Friday, June 8, 2012

Ashraful



Mohammad Ashraful (born 7 July 1984)Dhaka is a Bangladeshi international cricket player and has represented the Bangladesh national cricket team.

Carrer

On September 8, 2001, at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo, Mohammad Ashraful turned a terrible mismatch into a slice of history by becoming the youngest man - or boy - to make a Test century. Bangladesh still crashed to heavy defeat, but "Matin" brought hope and consolation with a sparkling hundred, repeatedly dancing down to hit the Sri Lankan spinners, including Muralitharan, back over their heads ... and on his debut, too. It was the day before his 17th birthday according to some sources, and 63 days after it according to most others: either way, he broke the long-standing record set by Mushtaq Mohammad (17 years 82 days) when he made 101 for Pakistan against India in 1960-61. Inevitably, such a heady early achievement proved hard to live up to, and after a prolonged poor run Ashraful was dropped for England's first visit in October 2003. He returned to the side a better player, but no less flamboyant, as he demonstrated with a glorious unbeaten 158 in defeat against India at Chittagong late in 2004. Still not 21 when Bangladesh made their maiden tour of England the following year, Ashraful confirmed his status as one for the future at Cardiff, when his brilliantly paced century set Bangladesh up for their astonishing victory over Australia in the NatWest Series. But Ashraful didn't fulfil his evident potential on the tour of Sri Lanka that followed, often getting out to loose shots, and made little impact against the Australians early in 2006 either. An extended run of poor form forced the management to drop Ashraful for the final qualifying match of the Champions Trophy against Zimbabwe. He was also omitted from the squad for the home series against Zimbabwe in December but was immediately recalled after slamming 263 for Dhaka Division against Chittagong Division in the domestic four-day competition. He was appointed Bangladesh's captain in June 2007 at the tender age of 22. The next two years turned out to be the toughest in his career. Bangladesh failed to win a Test under his leadership, and save for ODI victories against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, the team continued to under-perform in all formats. His batting form too suffered in the process but he never expressed his wish to relinquish the captaincy. After a disappointing campaign in the World Twenty20 in 2009, the board decided to relieve him of his duties to let him focus on his batting. Andrew Miller and Cricinfo Staff June 2009

Shakib Al Hasan

Shakib Al Hasan(born 24 March 1987)Magura,Bangladesh. He is an all-rounder, batting left-handed in the middle order and bowling slow left-arm orthodox. He represented Bangladesh at under-19 level, 18 Youth One Day Internationals between 2005 and 2006. Shakib made his One Day International (ODI) debut against Zimbabwe in August 2006, and his Test debut the following May against India. During a match against New Zealand in 2008, Shakib took the best bowling figures by a Bangladesh player in Tests, 7 wickets for 37 runs. Until then, Shakib had been considered more of a batsman than a bowler, although still an all-rounder. From January 2009 to April 2011 and again from March 2012, Shakib was ranked first amongst ODI all-rounders by the ICC. In December 2011, he became the world's top-ranked Test all-rounder.

 Early years and youth cricket

According to Prothom Alo sports editor Utpal Shuvro, Shakib "was fairly proficient [at cricket] and was often hired to play for different villages".[1] In one of these matches Shakib impressed an umpire who arranged for him to practice with the Islampur Para Club, a team in the Magura Cricket League. During the practice session, Shakib batted aggressively and bowled fast, as he usually did, but also chose to experiment with spin bowling which proved to be effective. He was picked to play for Islampur and took a wicket with his first ball; it was his first delivery with a proper cricket ball, having previously generally played with a taped tennis ball. He spent six months training at Bangladesh Krira Shiksha Pratisthan,[1] a government-run sports institute.[2]

In 2005, during the final of a tri-nation tournament involving England and Sri Lanka's Under-19 teams, Shakib scored an 86-ball century and took three wickets to lead his team to victory.[3] Between 2005 and 2006, Shakib played 18 youth One Day Internationals; he scored 563 runs at an average of 35.18, and took 22 wickets at an average of 20.18.[4]