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Mahmud made new skipper

Sunday, March 30 2003

Khaled Mahmud has been named as the new Bangladesh cricket captain for the upcoming home Test series and ODI tournament involving South Africa and India. He is the fourth captain of the Bangladesh team since it was granted Test status in 2000. He replaces Khaled Masud, whose captaincy came under fire following the country’s hopeless performance in the just concluded World Cup in South Africa. Aminul Islam and Naimur Rahman were the two previous captains in Test cricket for Bangladesh.

Mahmud, a temperamental right handed all-rounder, made his ODI debut back in 1998 against India and immediately made an impact with a well made 47. He then continued to stay in the national fold and performed admirably in the 1999 World Cup in England. He scored a century against county side Essex and then grabbed the man of the match award with his stellar all-round show in the historic win against Pakistan. He got back to Bangladesh as a hero and was even made the vice- captain to Naimur Rahman but soon he was to be dropped following a string of failures against the touring West Indies and later in the Asia Cup in 2000. He lost his form and was lost in the cricketing wilderness for more than a year. Only a stunning domestic season before the Zimbabwe tour of Bangladesh in 2001 got him to the Test side. He couldn’t hold on to the spot and soon found himself dropped. He returned to the team for the South African tour in the middle of 2002 and although he played pretty well, the selection committee ignored him for the home series against the West Indies. That sparked huge controversies in the cricketing arena in Bangladesh. Subsequently, he was selected for his second World Cup campaign. He didn’t get to play many matches and after returning to Dhaka, he along with the former ODI captain Akram Khan were touted as the new captain. He has had several years of cricket behind him in the domestic scene and recently has led successful tours as the captain of Bangladesh A to India.

The team is yet to be named for the forthcoming home Test Match series against South Africa and the ODI series which also features India, when this report was filed. But it is more that certain that he will lead a young brigade. Skeptics believe that he lacks the temperament of a captain but he has had good reputations of spotting talent and helping out the youngsters. The Bangladesh public now eagerly awaits some changes in the team’s fortunes under this new leader.


Posted by Isam