The first part of ‘Chittagong – The dysfunctional hub of cricket’ reported on the glorious past, a fully functional organisation, its output and then the reasons behind the decline of a system which used to be admired by the country’s cricketing arena.
In the second and final part of the series, this reporter tried to explore down into the core of the issue, this time with versions from a cricketer and one of the leading coaches of the port city.
Discarded national opener Nafees Iqbal hails from a family which has contributed immensely for cricket in Chittagong. Although his father, late Iqbal Khan, was a professional footballer their family – the Khan family – was passionate for the game of cricket. Not only the country but the whole world has seen the contributions of the family that were borne out of devotion for the game – Nafees, former national skipper Akram Khan and current national opening batsman Tamim Iqbal.
“Being so close to sports always helped us keep motivated and stick to the aim of flourishing in this arena,” said Nafees. Many people have put a tag on Nafees and Tamim in that they have been lucky to belong to a sporting family – this advantage made things easier for them. To brand the Iqbal brothers lucky would be a gross injustice towards the port city which also produced Aftab Ahmed and Nazimuddin, cricketers whose families had no relation whatsoever to the game or any other sports.
Nafees echoed the same sentiment to that of Chittagong Divisional Sports Association (CDSA) vice president Ali Abbas - the system has gone faulty and hardly anything is in place. Nafees thinks the biggest hurdle cricketers from Chittagong encounter is a lack of facilities. Cricket in the country has flourished over the years but only to the point of being more Dhaka-centric.
“It is true that cricket has expanded in many ways over the years but you also have to understand what the cricketers from Chittagong are getting in regards to facilities compared to that of Dhaka,” Nafees went on to explain, “The best facilities are in Dhaka and then Rajshahi at the moment, so zonal-wise the cricketers there are in an advantageous position in the Under-18 and 19 levels, the A team or even those who are discarded from the national side. Whereas in Chittagong we have nothing at the moment – we do not even have a proper turf wicket to practice on.”
Nafees complained that a dearth of professional tournaments is also a reason behind the division’s failure to produce cricketers as well as attracting new ones.
The 29-year old right-handed batsman, whose century against Zimbabwe sealed Bangladesh’s maiden Test series victory, recalled the U-19 days, “Me, Aftab, Nazim used to rule the U-19 team and were the key players but at the end of the day only talent is not enough to survive. One also requires proper facilities for development.”
Nafees concluded by saying the senior players of the division alongside the concerned authorities should be lauded for an initiative to field eight debutants in the last edition of the National Cricket League, something that will encourage and inspire the youngsters in the future.
Now to get the version of Mominul Haque, one of Chittagong’s best coaches, and his reasons behind the drought in producing more cricketers from the division.
Momin has been coaching the divisional team for the last four years. He is also coach of Brothers Union, a premier cricket club of the country. The major issue Momin, who also operates a cricket academy, has to face as a coach is a lack of passion amongst some youngsters. One reason he pointed out is the families pressing the young ones more into studies than anything else, let alone sports.
“Another thing that I have personally observed is that the young cricketers do not follow the seniors. The youngsters are hardly interested in learning new things and are often happy with minute achievements – lets say scoring 20-odd runs or picking up a wicket,” said Momin.
Like Nafees, Momin also pointed out that a lack of tournaments was hampering the growth of the division’s cricketers.
“We were the immediate batch after Akram bhai. To be honest we had the potential but most of the players had to leave the game because there were no tournaments at all and only a few could get the chance to play for clubs in Dhaka. I played my first premier league in Chittagong after playing three seasons in Dhaka, so you can imagine how bad the situation here was,” Momin explained.
The Chittagong-based coach informed that initiatives are being taken to amend the situation and that CDSA has implemented a few long-term plans to bring back the glory days of the past but reaping the results of the system might take a few more years to see the light of the day.
