Some boys were playing cricket on the street. The batsman hit the ball and it went a long distance_ right through the window of a house. Though the ball shattered the glass, the landlord came up to the boy and congratulated him, instead of getting angry!
Yes, that was a plot of an advertisement. Obviously, no house owner would be happy after such an incident of glass-breaking. But the TV commercial is a sign of changing attitude towards cricket in this country.
Twenty years back, most parents did not allow their children to play cricket regularly. Playing cricket was just an afternoon physical exercise to them. The situation started changing after Bangladesh participated, and won, an international one-day tournament. But massive changes happened after the first Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) was held in 2012. A large number of boys became interested in cricket after the event. Participation in second and third division cricket tournaments in Dhaka is one of the best examples. Few years ago, 8-10 teams were competing in the second division league, but that rose to 24 teams last year.
If you go for a walk in the morning or afternoon in any park or open space, you will see many boys practising cricket. That is the benefit of cricket globalisation. T-20 cricket is the most vibrant component of the globalisation process. Young cricketers of Bangladesh are no exception. Bangladesh Premier League gives them the opportunity to dream of playing professional cricket.
Young cricketers like Nasir Hossain, Mominul Haque, Shamsur Rahman, Mehedi Maruf, Mosaddek Hossain, Ziaur Rahman, Safiul Islam, Abu Haider Rony, Suvasish Roy, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Liton Das, Taskin Ahmed, Mohammad Saifuddin have become celebrities thanks to BPL. Three or four young local players showed extraordinary performances in past BPL seasons. Minhazul Abedin Nannu, chief selector of our national cricket team, is looking to recruit some new players from the ongoing tournament. He hopes to find 2-3 fresh talents.
Now BPL is one of the most attractive T-20 tournaments in world cricket. The fifth season is going on after success of the previous four seasons. Despite some match-fixing controversies, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) venture draws attention of worldwide cricket fans, TV viewers and sponsors. So, the cricket league has become a festival itself.
Most of the young players of Bangladesh play in different leagues. They perform well to get a chance in the national team, and BPL is the bridge to that destination. So, promising young players wait eagerly for BPL. On the other hand, the franchises are also on the lookout for talented young players to build a balanced team, to win the title.
But new regulation that allows teams to field five foreign players in the playing 11 could be an obstacle to flourishing new homegrown talents. If more local talent comes out of the tournament, that would be the success of BPL, as well as our cricket. n
The writer is a journalist at
Independent Television.
Photos: File.