Reputation of hand that releases the ball doesn’t matter to them

For the uninitiated, this might seem like a false bravado of a fatalistic suicide-bomber but those at Trinidad will tell you that for these youngsters names don’t matter. They treat the ball on the basis of the line and length it is bowled at, and not from the reputation of the hand that releases it.

To understand this psyche, one approaches Faroukh Ahmed, former Bangladesh captain and current chief selector, who is here with the team. He says this is a new improved face of Bangladesh cricket. “During my playing days, much before Bangladesh got the Test status, there were no opportunities. We never had the opportunity to play someone like Wasim Akram, so we were in awe of him. But, today, say someone like Tamim gets to play Irfan Pathan at the age-group level and he thinks ‘I know this guy, I have played him’. So that makes him very confident,” he explains.

Faroukh adds how the under-19 players have travelled the cricket world before they got into the big league and thus are used to playing top-quality opposition. But, as the chief selector warns, picking the right man at the right time is very vital. With India’s poor success rate at the junior World Cup fresh in the mind one asks for details.

“One can never predict. Some may click and some may not. But the work of a talent scout is to judge the mental strength of the youngster and watch out for his performance at crucial times,” he sats. With this in mind Faroukh, also a junior selector, pushed his Board to send him to Vizag where Tamim and Saqibul were playing a six-nation tournament. “I had seen Saqibul in the tri-series at home where Bangladesh defeated England in 11 consecutive games. He scored in virtually every game and scored a century in the final against Sri Lanka. We were looking for an opener, so I needed to have a closer look at Tamim,” he says.

Recalling the game in which Tamim showed signs of his mental toughness, Faroukh says: “It was a game against Pakistan that had an impressive pace attack. There were wickets falling at the other end, but Tamim was not only holding the end tight, but also whacked the ball all over the park. I knew I had found the opener I was looking for.”

So far the youngsters have justified the faith shown in them. In the years to come, many more such graduations will take place and the smile on Faroukh’s place will be broader.