Mohammad Ashraful: The story of a prodigious talent gone in vain
Remember that eventful day in the English Summer of 2005 when minnows Bangladesh beat World Champions Australia? Bangladesh achieved that feat on the back of a remarkable century by one Mr Mohammad Ashraful, leading to his countrymen believe that they have found their very own batting sensation, someone who they could pin their hopes on.
But not every story is a fairy tale; there are many tragic ones, too. Similarly, not every prodigious talent goes on to have a long and successful career. Ashraful is a shining example of the tragic tale.
12 years after he made his debut, he was banned from cricket for 8 years in 2013, now reduced to 5 years, for his involvement in spot-fixing during his stint in the Bangladesh Premier League with Dhaka Gladiators. Ashraful pleaded guilty, he said: "I should not have done this injustice to the nation, I feel guilty. I would only say 'Please all forgive me, my conduct was improper’.”
Initial phase of his career
An interesting thing about Ashraful that most of us may not know is that he started out as a leg-spinner. He would regularly attend practice sessions of his local club’s senior team, the Amrajyothi club, where he used to work as a ball boy. One of the senior cricketers of the club, Khaled Mahmud gave him the opportunity to display his talent as a spinner. He impressed one and all with his turn and bounce, and the club snapped him up on a contract.
During another practice session, he got a chance to bat and impressed during his stay at the crease, as well. He claimed that "I am a bowler who can bat a bit". Ashraful made his debut for the club aged just ten! Following this, he made a mark at every level of cricket and earned his spot in the 1999 ICC Under-19 Bangladesh World Cup squad at only 15. By this time, his skills with the bat had been honed to the level of becoming a batting mainstay of the teams he were a part of.
Ashraful made his debut in ODIs in April 2001, against Zimbabwe, and also made his Test debut shortly thereafter. He was just 17 years old at the time.
The Dhaka-born was a teen sensation when he became the youngest player to score a Test century, registering a hundred on debut, against Sri Lanka, aged just 17 years and 62 days. Pundits were really impressed with his swashbuckling stroke play and mature approach to batting. He also showed that he had tons of concentration and determination.
After the initial burst, though, he ran into a poor run of form, which extended till the 2003 world cup. He made a paltry 71 runs during the tournament at an average of just 14.
He was subsequently dropped after the World Cup. He started becoming a victim of his very own high standards and the hopes that were placed on him by fans and pundits alike. He returned to the Bangladeshi fold after almost an year, in 2004, and there were notable improvement in the performances, as well.
He played many a good innings and showed fleeting glimpses of his famously heralded potential. But, for me, two of his centuries are firmly etched into my memory, innings which I followed very closely. The first was in 2004 when he scored a 158 in a Test match against India. This was also a record for the highest score by a Bangladeshi batsman.
The second was a hundred he scored against Australia in an ODI in 2005, which Bangladesh went on to win. Wisden still regards this Bangladesh win as the biggest upset in history. The calm and composed manner in which he tackled a tricky chase against the invincible Australian team was very pleasing to see.
He was appointed as the captain of the Bangladesh team in all forms of the game in June 2007, thereby becoming the second youngest international captain, aged just 22. It became widely accepted that the added workload had become a burden on his batting, following a string of underwhelming performances, and he was stripped of leadership duties in 2009, which more or less started his downward spiral.
Post captaincy, it became even worse; nothing went his way. He was constantly in and out of the side, and, when he was in, it felt that he was there through potential rather than form and performance. All this finally culminated in his ban from cricket in 2013.
Oblivion awaits
Let the ban be eight years or five, it signals the end of the career of one the brightest young talents I have witnessed. He joins an increasingly long list of cricketers who have succumbed to the lure of easy money, which includes Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir, Salman Butt, Lou Vincent, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth etc.
As an ardent follower of cricket, each incident of corruption in cricket in very painful. It does not speak well of our beloved game when its flag bearers chooses to cheat the game, its laws and its followers. I personally dread the day when I watch a game with doubts lingering at the back of my head about whether this no ball is legitimate or whether this dropped catch is just a dropped catch.
The situation is quite similar to relationships where they say that, once broken, trust cannot be regained to its fullest no matter how much you try. I speak for all the fans when I say that our love for the game has been there, and always will, and that very love has masked any trust issues we have. But, well, an ounce of that trust does go away with each Ashraful-like incident.
As for Ashraful, you deserve to go into oblivion, my brother! A whole nation made you their hero and pinned infinite hopes on you. And you repaid all that by cheating them all for as ephemeral a thing as money.