June 22nd, 1990 – Bangladesh were a win away from booking a place in the ICC World Cup as they faced Zimbabwe in the semi-final of the ICC Trophy at The Hague, Netherlands. The golden ticket slipped through the hands as Bangladesh went down by 84 runs chasing a steep target of 231 in the 60-over game.
A loss was somewhat expected given the difference in experience between the then Zimbabwe and Bangladesh side, but in spite of the defeat it was a proud moment for the country’s port-city Chittagong for two reasons.
One - it’s own, Minhajul Abedin, staged a fightback with 57 after the top-five batsmen gathered 34 in the game, and two - four players represented the national side in the tournament on behalf of the particular division - the first time it happened and the last till date.
Apart from the Abedin brothers – Minhajul (Nannu) and Nurul (Nobel) - Zahid Razzak and Akram Khan were the flag bearers of the port-city. On that moment many had considered Chittagong to be the breeding ground of producing quality cricketers for the future, but has it been the case?
Thought it was under the leadership of Akram that Bangladesh entered the elite tournament, the World Cup, by beating Kenya in the 1998 ICC Trophy in Malaysia, Chittagong has failed to keep the promise it made in its early days.
The nephews of Akram - Tamim Iqbal and Nafees Iqbal – along with Aftab Ahmed and Nazimuddin are really the only names that made it to the national squad in the last decade and the lack of quality cricketers at present rising from the division could hardly be found too.
After a thorough search only one youngster from the Under-19s, Yasir Ali, was found to have some chances of walking into the national dressing room – given the right-handed batsman is nurtured well.
So what went wrong at Chittagong which was once a hub of cricket in the country, where everyone used to literally look forward to see cricketers emerge, a place where not only national but renowned international cricketers from Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan like Raman Lamba and Athula Samarasekera appeared to play in the high-voltage tournaments.
The core issues behind the fall of producing high-caliber cricketers from the division is improper infrastructure while the sports organisers getting off-track also does not help believes Alhaj Ali Abbas, vice-president of Chittagong Divisional Sports Association (CDSA).
“As far as I remember in 1976 CDSA took the first initiative to organise a top-level cricket tournament. Four years later a tournament called Star Summer Cricket Tournament was launched. That tournament went popular really quick and took place each year for the next 20 years,” said Abbas.
Abbas further informed, the tournament however vanished with the demise of one of its initiator Rashed Asgar Chowdhury in 2000. Meanwhile through another source it occurred, after the death of Asgar a dispute among the organising committee members involving the then under construction MA Aziz Stadium market also broke the enthusiasm which eventually demolished the committee.
There are various tournaments being organised by CDSA at the moment but all of it lacks the charm and the Premier Cricket League of the city has also gone irregular.
“We are organising tournaments like corporate cricket, U-18 and U-19 but I personally believe these tournaments are not efficient enough to produce quality cricketers as the tournament itself aren’t that big due to the shortage of fields in the city,” said Abbas. The CDSA over and over has urged the concerned authorities for allocating fields in order to better the system but the efforts often went unanswered, said Abbas. “Fields like Jamburi field, outer of the MA Aziz Stadium and few others remain unused.”
“They are not properly maintained and get occupied by the drug addicts once the sun goes down. These things should be taken care of for the betterment of not only cricket but for the whole sports culture. The Prime Minister of the country should intervene and settle these issues if needed,” he added.
There’s a saying that “It’s never too late”. The face of cricket in Chittagong might not look the way it was expected 20 years back, but with proper guidance and instructions it is possible to restore the dream for the betterment of the country before the path completely perishes.
