A swing, a cartwheel and the shadow of a perpetual hopelessness

What is the most beautiful scene of a cricket match?

For the classic lover nothing is more beautiful than to watch a fast bowler running like a cheetah to produce a delivery with the force of a lion resulting destruction of a hapless hunt aka the batter. The cartwheeling of the stump produces a visual lyric; ignite the poetic beauty, an epitome of cricketing aesthetic worthwhile to wait for eons.

And just imagine, a 19-year old boy being the predator while the country’s premium batter bamboozled, baffled, shaken by the raw power of youth and confidence that aspires to conquer the whole world.

This epic like scene occurred in front of the eyes of some handful of journalists at Mirpur and perhaps to some extreme level of enthusiasts, who followed the otherwise below standard broadcast of National Cricket League through YouTube, on Monday morning.

Mushfiq Hasan, a 19-year old pacer of Rangpur Division rattled the stumps of Chittagong Division’s Tamim Iqbal during the first morning of their second round match. Tamim, the most prolific Test run getter in Bangladesh, looked well set before the young guy disturbed his timber.

Tamim during his illustrious career has faced so many greats of the game and even statistics support he is very comfortable facing super-fast bowlers. However, on the day, the gorgeous inswing was too much even for the batting behemoth. David stumps Goliath.

But the importance of the incident not confined with the beautiful scene however aesthetic it was. It was not even about a six-foot plus tall fast bowler getting immense confident about his calibre and future.

The great moment of joy is actually a sad saga, a tale of malfunction and despair.

It is imperative in sports, for that matter in any great human endeavour, to gain the experience of the prior generations and aspirations to beat them so that the wheel of progress moves on.

Isaac Newton, the giant of a scientist believed he could see further than others only because he stood upon the shoulders of giants, his predecessor in the field of science.

In sports it has been seen time and again that the great people always targeted the towering figures and their attempt to imitate and ultimately surpass them made them legend. Clive Lloyed used to create a healthy competition among his pacers and the young pacers like Holding and Marshall took the seemingly impossible task of competing with the likes of Joel Garner and Andy Roberts. They actually surpassed in that endeavor. Imran Khan also created the same challenge to produce world beaters like Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. There are endless of examples like that. The very aspiration to be with the best and to be best is the most tested method of producing greats in sports.

That was exactly the dream of a cricket fanatic nation two decades ago when they got Test status. It was envisaged they would play against the best and would engulf the yawning gaps with the world class players.

No doubt the likes of Tamim and Shakib al Hasan availed the chances. They became great within their own rights. What about Tamim and Shakib of next generation? Or daring the dream to get our own WasimAkram?

Getting the chance to play Test matches was a huge achievement but everyone thought the domestic cricket would be improved as a natural consequence of getting the Test status. By doing so, the experience of the top echelon would be disbursed through a trickle down method.

Decades ago, our national team players used to overwhelm by the international giants. Imran once showed the arrogance of doing the coin toss outside the boundary and intimidated Ashraf Hossain, the erstwhile Bangladesh captain, had no way to decline such a behemoth. These days people like Shakib and Tamim enjoys the same stature of any other world’s best and they are not at all intimidated.

But, has the system able to transform this self-belief? Do the young players get enough opportunities to face great players regularly at the domestic levels? Does the cricket infrastructure even allow the young players to hone on their skills by facing the most competitive players?

Everyone knows the answers are no. A Shakib or a Tamim became so by playing in the international level without much of armors and shields. They had to endure the level and survived the tough world through extreme tenacity and sometimes perhaps with sheer luck.

Unless the domestic cricket reaches a true Test country level getting a great player will be like playing Russian roulette. We will enjoy one Tamim or one Shakib and will rebuke on hundreds of others.

But one cannot deny we have talents. The great joyful moment of a young pacer actually brought a great sorrow. Had the players like him would get more and more competition and the chance of sharing the sage of great players, they would be able to thrive on. Their counterparts of India, Australia and England enjoy the privilege. The young players of the above mentioned countries may not always gets the likes of Kohli, Warner or Stokes but their domestic structure always inspire them to put the performance bar even higher.

For young Mushfiq, Monday morning was a surreal one. The ecstatic boy could not even come to reality at the evening when asked about the experience.

But his dream should be turned into an inspiration, to accentuate his level. As a matter of fact that should be the dream of every young player who holds a cherry or a willow in their hand. Idols are vital, dreams are prerequisite, but without proper chances no one can thrive. History of sports has taught us so.

Hence the most aesthetic of the scenes in cricket turned into a grey picture, with the dark cloud of uncertainty and future. We cannot afford to turn the dreams of million young people into nightmares.