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Something to Talk About Minhajul Abedin

Shahryar Khan

June 11, 2001

The name of Minhajul Abedin Nannu has always evoked admiration and dispute-admiration is because he is most probably considered as the best batsman Bangladesh has ever produced. At the same time, on some occasions, he was the prime cause of argument and dispute. Minhaj's batting genius is above suspicionhe drew the close notice of millions of cricket lovers in this country for almost fifteen years. In domestic level he was the key man in the team he used to play for. The clubs he played for seldom opted for a foreign recruit because Minhaj was the kind of a batsman who could tip over all calculations in a jiffy through his match winning notch-ups.

Talent sometimes has a subdued eccentricity. This eccentricity usually drives the talented to be crazy. Minhajul's temperament to handle the spectators, while on the field, was poor enough to stir up dispute. Actually he was a short-tempered fellow. He was seen infuriated at the crowd's remarks quite oftenespecially on occasions when he got out early. As a result, exchanging of hot words form Minhaj with the crowd was a usual scenario in Dhaka Stadium.

However, his performance in the International Cricket was not up to his mark. He could not leave an exact likeness of his genius over there. Since his ODI debut he carried 40 against Sri Lanka as his highest total besides his name for eight long years-whether his compatriots Athar Ali, Aminul Islam or Akram Khan al ready got several half-centuries each. In 1998, he slammed 45, a spectacular innings that ended stupidly. May be his career would have no half-centuries in its stock unless he played the 99' World Cup. Here fate smiled at him for the first time to get two good knocks. In both of them he remained in the crease till the end. The match winning 68 not out against Scotland (Bangladesh's first world cup victory) and 52 not out against Australia were satisfactory enough to declare his retirement from International Arena. But in the next year he expressed his willingness to take part in his country's introductory test match against India. Unfortunately, he was not selected for the squad.

Now the new Selection Committee gave Minhaj a call to attend the camping that is going to take the preparatory measures to form the Bangladesh-A team. Khaled Mahmood, who undergoes a severe mental agony for being called "too old to play", has also been selected for the same camping. Abedin captained the national squad during 1992-93 session and had played a good number of first class matches. The Players called up for Bangladesh-A Team are: Rashedul Hoque, Azam Iqbal, Rafiqul Islam, Anisul Hakim, Niaz Morshed, Sajjad Hossain, Mazharul Hoque, Nahidul Huq, Minhajul Abedin, Khaled Mahmood, Neeyamur Rashid, Mosaddek Hossain, Mustadir Litu, Rasheduzzaman, Golam Mortaza, Sajjad Kadir, Aftabul Islam, Aminul Islam jr., Anwar Hossain, Ashiqur Rahman, Tarek Aziz Khan, Ainul Kabir, Ashfaq Ali and Mohammed Alamgir.

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