The final step of a long journey
"Everyone in this team knows their roles. [Mahmudul Hasan] Joy’s is to play the anchor role. And this knock coming from Joy was nothing extraordinary or anything to be surprised by as he has been doing it regularly for the side."
HANNAN SARKAR
SELECTOR BANGLADESH U-19
It has long been the dream of the fans of a cricket loving country like Bangladesh to see their team playing in a World Cup final. And come February 9, the dream will turn to reality, thanks to the Akbar Ali-led Bangladesh Under-19s, who made history by being the first ever Bangladeshi side to qualify for an ICC event final after they defeated their New Zealand counterparts by six wickets in the ICC Under-19 World Cup semifinal on Thursday.
Akbar and Co have done what the batch of Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan or the one of Mehedi Hasan Miraz and Mosaddek Hossain were not able to do. The reason behind this batch’s success is simple -- togetherness.
“This team and the ones who are managing it have been together for the past one and a half years. We played in England, New Zealand and then played home and away against Sri Lanka and then England came and played against us at home. During this time, you will see that almost 13 players were with the side throughout. So, everyone here, starting from players and management, everyone knows their role very well,” said Hannan Sarkar, who has been the under-19 selector for the past two years.
This under-19 side was put together by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) back in September 2018 with the sole aim of preparing the lot to represent the country in the 2020 U-19 World Cup. Since then, the team played a total of 30 youth ODIs, winning 18 of them and had the second-highest win percentage, just behind India, for youth teams that have played 15 or more games.
For Sarkar, who has seen the batch putting up excellent performances in the last year, it was not a surprise to see Mahmudul Hasan Joy playing a matured need-of-the-hour 127-ball 100 in the semifinal.
“As I said, everyone in this team knows their roles. Joy’s is to play the anchor role. And this knock coming from Joy was nothing extraordinary or anything to be surprised by as he has been doing it regularly for the side. Joy has scored tons in almost every series. He has scored one in New Zealand, one in England and even in Asia Cup in Sri Lanka. So, it is not a surprise, it was just his continuation,” continued Sarkar.
Bangladesh will play defending champions India in the all-important final. Like the national team, the under-19s also have woes against India, especially in tournament finals. And according to Sarkar, playing against India, who have got the better of the young Tigers in two finals and one semifinal previously, it is now time for redemption.
“We lost two finals and one semifinal with India till now. Two of them in the Asia Cup, both very close encounters. In 2019 we lost by just 5 runs in the final while in 2018 we lost by 2 runs in the semifinal. Another one in England during a tri-nation series final. But now is the time to win because we have nothing to lose.
“I talked to Joy and Akbar yesterday [Thursday] and all they said is that ‘one more step left’. We have been working hard for the past year and a half and this is the last match for this batch. All that hard work was for this day and this is the final step -- to win the cup,” concluded Sarkar.
