The new Tamim on the block rises above the noise

When Tanzid Hasan rushed out to Mohammed Siraj and hit him over the covers, it looked like he was sick of getting out for 16. It had happened twice in his nascent international career, and was his best in ODIs to date. The carve over cover got him to 19.

It mattered, perhaps. It has been that sort of a month for the young man, after all.

Tanzid was caught in the crossfire of the Shakib Al Hasan-Tamim Iqbal spat. He had nothing to do with it apart from being the left-hand opening batter who replaced Tamim Iqbal in the World Cup squad. His nickname also happens to be Tamim, but we will get to it a bit later.

Against India in Pune, Tanzid reached 40 off 28 balls with a flurry of fours and sixes off Siraj and Shardul Thakur. Then to his fifty off 41 balls. Tanzid drove five fours in addition to his three sixes from a whip, a hook and a blast over the covers. Kuldeep Yadav brought an end to Tanzid's breakout ODI innings, but not before the young batter made a big crowd go quiet for an hour and 15 minutes.

It was the innings that Bangladesh's cricket-watching public had been waiting for.

Tanzid came with a big reputation after he helped Bangladesh win the Under-19 World Cup in 2020. In July this year, he struck three fifties in four innings in the Emerging Cup in Sri Lanka. He got a duck on ODI debut in the Asia Cup, and then struggled through the New Zealand ODIs at home, and the first three World Cup games.

Every Bangladesh press conferences in the last 12 days had at least three questions about Tanzid or the "opening pair". The team management stuck by him. Nobody really thought what it was like for Tanzid in the last four weeks.

Like most cricket-obsessed kids from the subcontinent, Tanzid was trained very early in his life about tackling high-pressure situations. It starts at home. For Tanzid, it was when he was in sixth grade. In an interview to Bangla Tribune before the 2020 Under-19 World Cup, Tanzid told the story about the time when his father kicked him out of his house for playing cricket.

"My father, who worked in the public sector, brought me and my sister to Bogra for better education," Tanzid said. "I was more into cricket, so one day he kicked me out of the house. I had just returned home after playing cricket when he scolded me, and then literally sent me out. My father used to think that playing will cost me my education. 'I don't want a son like you - I brought you here for your education, and you are wasting your time playing cricket,' he told me that day."

Tanzid, though, quickly convinced his father that he was the real deal, with a lot of help from his mother. His big leap was when he joined the Bangla Trac Cricket Academy, 104 kilometres southwest of Bogra, in Rajshahi. Tanzid top-scored in the Dhaka First Division Cricket League in his first season, before making it to the Under-19 side. The country first noticed him after he made 80 off 84 balls against South Africa in the World Cup quarter-final.

His name, understandably, sparked curiousity too. Were his parents fans of Tamim Iqbal that they named him after the Bangladesh cricket hero? Tanzid was born in 2000 so there's no chance of that happening - Tamim Iqbal made his international debut only in 2007. He is an idol, though.

Being a left-hand batter, instead, came about following advice from a neighbour.

"Sojol bhai, my neighbour who taught me everything about cricket since I was in class three, got me to bat left-handed. He always told me that a left-hander has more opportunities in Bangladesh," Tanzid said. "I started following Tamim bhai later. I loved playing the cut and pull like him. I want to be a complete left-hand batter like Tamim bhai.

"My parents gave me this name Tamim. I recognised Tamim bhai when I started playing cricket in my childhood. I loved that my name was like Tamim bhai's, and that I bat left-handed like him, too. I am also an opener like him. But my parents didn't name me after Tamim bhai."

A few days before the big Shakib-Tamim fight in Bangladesh cricket, Tamim Sr gave his namesake the stamp of approval. "I have always been his fan," Tamim Iqbal said. "Maybe everyone says that in press conferences but those close to me know that when the Under-19 team won the title, I always thought he was the best player in that team.

"It is unfortunate that it took him so long to come to the national team, but I always believed he was the best batter in the team. It was great to see him score runs. It won't take long. He is a quality player. Batting, fielding, approach, attitude - everything."

Now, in case you thought the coincidences and the Tamim connection ended there, not quite.

Tanzid scored 51 against India in Pune. Tamim had scored 51 against India in Port of Spain in 2007. In 2007, Bangladesh had scripted what remains one of their most famous victories. It wasn't the case on Thursday, of course.

But the similarities end there.

Tamim was a taura (a colloquial Bengali word for a hitter) in his early days, before he transformed himself into a technically strong and heavy-scoring opener. Tanzid is aggressive but only when the situation and opportunity calls for it. This is how the current generation learns from the previous generation and improves a cricket team. The world waxed lyrical about Tamim when he blazed India all those years ago. Tanzid may not get that much attention but his 51 will give him immense confidence, and a way out of the mess he involuntarily found himself in.