Akram Khan was not only stripped of the captain's armband but also ominously thrown out of a team that he led to giddy heights in Kuala Lumpur only a year and half ago. Had not the big man from Chittagong waged a lone battle against the victory-sniffing Hollanders, Bangladesh's dream of an International Cricket Council (ICC) Trophy win would have certainly gone up in smoke yet again?
The character he played when chips were dreadfully down carved a niche in the hearts of cricket-crazy crores across the country. His international career spans over 10 years and his four years at the helm of the national team has seen Bangladesh win two major trophies - ICC and ACC, and the maiden one-day international, that against Kenya.
While the fans may not forget the historic moment and the man behind the successes, an unscrupulous gang in the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) did not find any difficulty in disremembering the moment and the man.
For the sake of a change and to save the skin of the selectors, the wandering boat of Board president Saber Hossain Chowdhury was saddled with a new crew for the Nepal mission. The expectation and efforts of an all-too-eager Aminul Islam Bulbul, the long-term deputy to Akram, bore fruits lately when the three-man selection committee asked him to step into the sticky shoes of the dumped Chittagonian. The selectors, led by the 'Jack of all trades' Enayet Hossain Siraj, also chopped all-rounder Naimur Rahman from the Nepal-bound team.
It's very true that Bangladesh cricket hit its lowest ebb in the Commonwealth Games where the sporting ambassadors, oblivious to the commitment and conviction necessary for the country's cause, abased their motherland in faraway away Kuala Lumpur. Bangladesh, the International Cricket Council Trophy champions, made a mockery of their claim for Test status, by going down meekly to all their three group league opponents.
Barring the 'sentiment' of the few in the Board who are shedding crocodile's tears, it hurt really terribly the aficionados, who had to swallow the news of the dreadful defeats of the national team at the hands of cellar-dwellers like Ireland and Scotland.
It is obvious that the skipper should have to face the music following the pathetic performances since the one-off ICC Trophy triumph. But the dons of our cricket Board simply cannot pass the buck to Akram. They are the main culprits who need to be put on the dock for mishandling the whole affair.
``We had included him (Akram) in the Commonwealth Games not for his performance, but to continue as a captain,'' Siraj came up with the lamest of excuses in front of the newsmen while announcing the 14-man team. The reality was that Akram was first selected as player, as he always could have rightly been in any Bangladesh team on account of his batting performance, and then he was named the captain a week after.
And if one has to pick a consistent cricketer of the past few months among the bunch of freakishly famous flop-masters then the name which will crop up first in any body's mind is that of all-rounder Khaled Mahmud Sujon, followed by former captain Faroque Ahmed. Statistics will show Akram Khan, with his small but steady contributions, trailing behind two or three in the order of the recognised batsmen.
Aminul, who, in support of some Board members, appeared to have concentrated more on becoming captain rather than scoring runs, hardly justifies his rating as the country's top batsman in recent months. He was surprisingly out of touch throughout the ICC clash, in the tours to Kenya, New Zealand and the British Isles. Apart from some brilliant innings, which included his gutsy half-centuries in Ireland and in a triangular one-day series against India, Aminul is guilty of being inconsistent along with his predecessor. Not only that, some sources close to the Kuala Lumpur tour party revealed on condition of anonymity that the captaincy issue reflected badly on the team's performance and discipline.
But the selectors did neither look into it nor hesitate to pass contrasting judgements for the same crime. Well, it's understandable that Akram should be replaced for his performance as captain to lift the fledgling morale of the team. But how is that Akram does not get a place in the team as a player?
Considering the dubious activities of the Board over the years, one cannot argue much about the fact that defeats in Kuala Lumpur were always on the cards for a team which was coached (?) by none other than former manager Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu. It is those culprits in the Board who had inducted Gazi Ashraf as coach, replacing Cuthbert Gordon Greenidge, BCB's director of coaching, citing a vague 'special circumstance.' The truth was that the celebrated Caribbean hit out at the cricket administrators on very professional issues. Angry at being the victim of a hate-campaign set off by a section of BCB officials, Greenidge opted to let the countrymen know through The Daily Star about the dismal activities of the Board. He did not hesitate to reveal that the Board did nothing at all for the development of the game nationally since the ICC Trophy victory.
Everybody in the Board has got his own agenda. The president himself is accused of leading the long list of fortune hunters. Although cricket is wandering in the wilderness, the rise of the 37-year-old Board president was phenomenal. Within the span of one year a little known Saber Chowdhury has become a state minister and an influential ICC executive member, perhaps by cashing in only on the ICC Trophy victory. Cynics never cease to tell that the young politician is now gunning for another goal -- the mayorship of Dhaka; developing the game nationally is from his mind.
Since this is their tendency in the guise of promoting cricket, no one should expect a decent result or the growth of the game under the rule of these administrators.
In the wake of growing frustration among cricket fans, the Board members always need a scapegoat to save their thick skin. That scapegoat this time is Akram. An expert said it all: ``They're treating us like mushrooms. They want to keep us in the dark and feed us bullshit.''