Nidahas Trophy 2018: Bangladesh Squad

Bangladesh cricket team will tour Sri Lanka next month to play a tri-nation T20I series, which includes India and host Sri Lanka as other opponents in this tournament. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced a 16-man squad keeping this upcoming cricket tournament titled Nidahas Trophy in mind.

Bangladesh Test and T20 captain, Shakib Al Hasan, has been included in the squad though he has not been completely recovered from a finger injury that forced him to miss out on the recently concluded home series against Sri Lanka. The BCB president Nazmul Hassan said the all-rounder might be able to play one or two matches because he is not fit enough. For this reason, Shakib could bowl but not bat. So, it will not be a good decision to take any risk with Shakib. That is why, there is very less possibility to see him playing in this tournament.

It looks like the absence created by Shakib Al Hasan will be replaced by off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz. He was one of the players who were not selected in the T20I squad that was beaten by the Lankans in February. 

The inclusion of opener Imrul Kayes and hard hitting batsman Sabbir Rahman has raised a lot of questions. The 31-year-old left-arm opener Kayes playing 14 T20Is has so far scored 119 runs at an average of 9.15 with career high score of 36. Though Sabbir’s record in the shortest format of cricket game is quite good, he is recently out of form, scoring 10, 2, 0, 1 and 1 in his last five international matches. Chief selector, Minhajul Abedin, has picked them up in the squad considering the importance of having experienced batsmen against two experienced sides in conditions where fast bowlers will be a dominating factor.

Taking the conditions of the pitch into consideration, selectors have also called in Taskin Ahmed. This tall speed star is considered the fastest among all fast bowlers in Bangladesh. This tall fast bowler has the ability to bowl yorkers and bouncers.

Mashrafe Mortaza was requested by the BCB to reconsider his T20 retirement and feature in the tournament. However, the veteran player has turned down the offer.

Players who have been left out of the squad are- Zakir Hasan, Afif Hossain, Mohammad Mithun, Mahedi Hasan and Mohammad Saifuddin. Three- Zakir, Afif, Mahedi- out of these five players made international debut against Sri Lanka. According to Minhajul, the reason behind playing many uncapped players was preparing a strong group for the next T20 world cup. They were selected based on their performances in the BPL.

The West Indies fast bowling legend, Courtney Walsh, who is now bowling coach of the national cricket team since September 2016, has been appointed as interim head coach for next month’s tri-nation T20 series in Sri Lanka starting from March 6. Since the departure of Chandika Hathurusingha, Bangladesh cricket team is without a head coach. To fill up this gap, former skipper, Khaled Mahmud, was made team director, but he has been criticized due to the Tiger’s poor performance in home series.

Squad for the tri-nation series: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Mahmudullah Riyad (vice captain), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Abu Hider, Abu Jayed, Ariful Haque, Nazmul Islam, Nurul Hasan, Mehedi Hasan.

The Bollywood Queen, Sridevi, is no more

Sridevi Kapoor, who is popularly known as only Sridevi, passed away on Saturday night (24 February 2018) at the age of 54 due to cardiac arrest in the UAE. According to her brother-in-law, Sanjay Kapoor, the actress was there along with her husband, producer Boney Kapoor, and daughter, Khushi, for attending a family wedding.

Sridevi, who is also called the Queen of Bollywood, started acting at the age of four making her debut as a child artist in M.A. Thirumugam’s devotional drama film “Thunaivan”. Since then, she went on appearing in films in the Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi languages. However, she was absent from film industry for 15 years since 1997, but made her comeback in 2012 with the blockbuster “English Vinglish”. In her acting career which extended over five decades, she starred in more than 150 films. Some of her box office hit movies are “Himmatwala”, “Mr. India”, “Chandni”, “ChaalBaaz” and “Sadma”.

She was one of the few Indian female actresses who had the ability of making movie box office success without the support of a male hero. Her performance on the silver screen helped her bagged five Filmfare awards out of 10 she was nominated for.  For her contribution to Indian cinema, the government of India awarded her Padma Shri- the fourth highest civilian honor- in 2013.

People from different walks of life, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Ram Nath Kovind, actress Priyanka Chopra, expressed condolences for her untimely death. The actress died still relatively young.

Sri Lanka wins the first T20I by 6 wickets

It looks like Bangladesh cricket team cannot come out of the losing streak. They are repeatedly performing badly in the ongoing series. In their recently concluded first T20I match, they lost to Sri Lanka by six wickets. Coming to reply, the touring team reached the target with 20 balls spare at hand. The fiery knocs from Kusal Mendis, Dasun Shanaka and Thisara Perera made the chase very easy. Winning the toss, the stand-in captain, Mahmudullah, decided to bat first and scored 193 runs losing 5 wickets. Soumya Sarkar and Mushfiqur Rahim scored 51 and 66 runs respectively while skipper Mahmudullah missed out on his fourth T20I fifty for seven runs. The second and final T20I will be played in Sylhet on February 18.

ICC rates Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium ‘below average’

After Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong, match referee David Boon has given Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka a demerit point rating the pitch a ‘below average’ for its performance in the second Test match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The period of this demerit point is five years and if the venue gets five demerit points in total during this five-year period, it will be suspended from organizing any international cricket for 12 months.

The pitch deemed to be spin-friendly. Out of 38 wickets, spinners claimed 30 while the rest of the wickets were picked up by fast bowlers, each selected by both teams. The second and final Test match ended on day three with Sri Lanka securing the two-match Test series 1-0 beating the host team by 215 runs.

David Boon has sent a report to the ICC, which was also forwarded to the BCB, informing, “From day one, there was evidence of the ball breaking the pitch surface, which resulted in uneven bounce throughout the match, along with inconsistent turn, which was even excessive at times. This pitch produced a contest that was too heavily skewed in favour of the bowlers, and didn’t give the batsmen a fair chance to display their skills.”

Earlier on February 6, the pitch at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong was rated ‘below average’ for the same reason by the same referee. However, it was considered to be too batting-friendly in terms runs scored and wickets felled. In the first Test match, 1533 runs were scored and just 24 wickets were picked in five days. As a result, the match ended in a draw on February 4.

Source: http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/22435026/mirpur-pitch-gets-average-rating

Can Sri Lanka continue their dominance in T20I series?

The first T20I of the two-match T20I series between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will kick off on Thursday (February 15) at around 05:00 pm local time (11:00 GMT). This match will take place at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Mirpur.

Winning two back-to-back series, first the triangular ODI series and then two-match Test series 1-0, against the host nation, the Lankans are now in buoyant form. They are expecting to continue their winning streak even in T20I series. Cricket lovers are eagerly waiting to see if the host national can make their bounce back and can stop Sri Lanka’s dominance in the first T20I. 

Injury is perhaps the main cause of concern for both teams. Like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka will also play without their first-choice captain, Angelo Mathews, who has been sidelined with a hamstring injury. Bangladesh Test and T20 skipper, Shakib Al Hasan, sustained a finger injury during the tri-series final and he has not completely recovered from his injury. However, Shakib is expecting to return to the squad for the second T20I. In the absence of main captains, deputies will lead the teams. Sri Lanka will be led by Dinesh Chandimal while Mahmudullah will lead Bangladesh in the first T20I.

There is no doubt that spin bowlers will get more priority. Both teams will try to pick up their best spin bowlers. Sri Lanka has a list of young and talented spinners like Jeevan Mendis, Akila Dananjaya, Jeffrey Vandersay and Amila Aponso. Young pacers Asitha Fernando and Shehan Madushanka are likely to play in the first T20I.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh has called up four uncapped players- Abu Jahed Rahi, Ariful Haque, Zakir Hasan and Afif Hossain. Experienced bowlers are Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Mehidy Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin and Abu Hider Rony. The host will have to rely on their experienced batting line up consist of Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman and Mahmudullah.

Mahmudullah Riyad is hopeful of his team’s victory against Sri Lanka

Only few hours are left to kick off the second and final Test match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. This is a great chance for both teams to win the match as well as seal the series victory. So, undoubtedly, this series decider will get more importance.

The stand-in captain, Mahmudullah Riyad, is very much hopeful about his team’s first-ever Test win against Sri Lanka at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium starting from February 8. The first Test match in Chittagong ended in a draw though the visitors put a 200-run lead after declaring their first innings on 713 for nine.

It is speculated that bowlers will get more help from the pitch. Taking the nature of the pitch into consideration both the teams will choose more spinners. The fate of the match also depends on toss. Toss winner team will automatically take the charge of the match.

Roger Federer wins 20th Grand Slam title in the Australian Open final

The Swiss tennis player, Roger Federer, has become the first male tennis player to win 20 Grand Slam singles titles- the most in history for a male player. His 20^th Grand Slam title came by beating Marin Cilic in five sets, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, in the final of the Australian Open in 2018. With this victory, the 36-year-old player has defended his sixth Australian Open title he won last year and jointly shared this record with Roy Emerson and Novak Djokovic.

It looks like Federer has been rejuvenated. The way he is performing, he may not take retirement very soon. In twelve months, he has bagged three major titles. His position in the world ranking is second, just behind Rafael Nadal. He said he will take retirement from tennis after becoming the oldest world No 1 player. This record is under Rafael Nadal who was 33 years old when he was No 1 in 2003.

There is no doubt that he was not a favorite contender in this tournament. Hardly anyone could dare to play gamble with an aging horse. However, in the end, he became victorious. Once again, sports lover saw him crying in front of media. Federer addressed the match result as fairy tale.

Source- https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/28/sports/tennis/australian-open-roger-federer-marin-cilic.html