Throughout his press conference, Shakib Al Hasan kept smiling while also making others smile. Sometimes he smiled after hearing the question, on other times while answering them. His infectious smile transferred onto others.
But in-between the smiles and jokes, the thing that time and again shone through in Shakib’s words was his confidence. A confident Shakib also indirectly started a competition between his teammates during his first press conference at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). Bangladesh’s match against South Africa on Thursday is an opportunity for one of his teammates to emerge as a ‘hero’. Who will be that ‘hero’?
Whatever Bangladesh do in their match in SCG, will be the first. The bowler who takes the first South African wicket to fall, will be the first Bangladeshi to take a wicket at the SCG. The player who hits the first boundary, will be the first Bangladeshi to do so. And the first batter that gets out will be the first Bangladeshi batsman to lose his wicket at the SCG in the 174-year history of the venue.
But naturally, a Bangladeshi name won’t appear in SCG’s ‘Walk of Honour’ after this game. At the walls adjacent to the stairs at the stadium’s entrance, there are several metal plates, describing many sporting feats all of which belong to sports legends from Sydney. How can someone from Bangladesh be present there!
But if someone from the team can respond to his captain’s call and become Bangladesh’s hero in their first ever game at the SCG, they will surely get a ‘Walk of Honour’ from his teammates while leaving the field.
At the press conference, Shakib shared his optimism with a smile on his face, “Tomorrow (Thursday) is another opportunity for us. The 11 who play for us, one of them have the chance of becoming the hero. So, who will be that hero, that’s what we need to see.”
Twenty20 is a game of ‘momentum’. Shakib’s formula to win a T20 is to gain ‘momentum’ and then hold onto it. In T20, one performance can win you a match. Hence, Shakib senses there is a good chance that a player from Bangladesh could end up emerging as the hero.
“In T20s, there is no scope to have too many performers. The number of performers will be fewer but their performance will have to be more impactful. The openers have the chance to bat 20 overs. Why wouldn’t they be able to do it? I believe they can do it. The way our bowlers bowled the previous day, why wouldn’t they be able to take 10 wickets again?”
Shakib actually directed this question to his teammates. The captain is trying different ways to inspire them to find a positive answer to this question. Like at one point he said, “Getting a win against South Africa is very important. This is a match, if we can win this, we will get closer to proving that we have the ability of achieving something great.”
In the last match, Taskin Ahmed bowled brilliantly and claimed four wickets. In Shakib’s eyes, Taskin has already become the leader of the Bangladesh team’s pace attack after Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. The invitation to becoming a leader is open to everyone, but Shakib’s expectations are higher from players like Taskin who are playing well.
But if someone new emerges as a hero, Shakib will embrace him, “When one player of a team plays well consistently for a long time… those teams end up playing well for a long time. We want such consistent performances. During this, if one or two players can provide us with surprise stand out performances, we will also embrace that wholeheartedly. We want one or two such surprise performances in every match, as they play a bigger part in turning the momentum of a match.”
There should be no shortage of red and green flags in Sydney, a city where nearly 60 thousand Bangladeshis live. Shakib sees this as a big inspiration and another reason why everyone in the team should enjoy the match, “The important thing for us is how much we can enjoy the match. As many Bangladeshis live in Sydney, a large majority of the crowd will be on our side. It’s important how we can make use of their support and perform even better. We need to repay their support.”
That’s why, the main condition for the Bangladesh team in Sydney is that someone out of them has to emerge as a hero. Now, who will be Shakib’s hero at the Sydney Cricket ground?
*This report appeared in the online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ashfaq-Ul-Alam Niloy