There is an Under-19 camp ongoing at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium with the participation of 30 cricketers.
Young players are practising hard in this special camp with the dream of becoming great players and wearing the national color one day.
But one player particularly caught the eye, Tripura ethnic player Anik Deb Barman.
The 6 feet 3-inch tall fast bowler, who is being considered as Bangladesh’s first male Indigenous cricketer in the national level, has been at the center of attraction in recent days.
He later shared to the media his journey from early childhood to this level which can inspire many young kids in the country, especially those belonging to the ethnic groups.
“Most of the people in my village play football. There are no big fields suitable for cricket. I grew up playing on those football grounds. The field was really small,” said Anik.
“At the beginning none from my family gave me support. I played without informing them. People used to come to my home to take me to play. There were restrictions from home. They used to say what would I achieve by playing. Even then I played secretly. Got beaten also for this (laughs).”
Anik hails from Kaliguchia village at Bahubal upazila in Habiganj.
He grew interest in cricket after watching on television. Due to a lack of cricket playing fields in his village, he bowled with an enhanced action by breaking his arm.
His family shifted to Sreemangal when he was in class five. Besides studying, he had more opportunities to play cricket there.
After beginning his cricket journey at an academy in Sreemangal, he gave two trials in the Moulvibazar district’s Under-16 level.
After a trial in the Habiganj district he was able to trace his steps forward in age-level cricket.
Soon he attracted the attention of the coaches and his bowling action video was duly sent to Bangladesh Cricket Board coach and former national pacer Nazmul Hossain. He did not have to look back since.
Anik took part in the Sheikh Kamal U-18 national cricket tournament earlier this year. After performing well there he was called up to the Bangladesh U-19 preliminary side.
Bangladesh paceman Taskin Ahmed is Anik’s inspiration and outside the country he admires Shoaib Akhtar and Brett Lee.
The path that the likes of Taskin has showed, Anik is dreaming to follow suit. He said: “I dream of playing for Bangladesh. The platform that I have, I feel I can progress forward.”
If that happens, not only will it be a dream come true for Anik but also the ethnic groups in this country.
