You can’t miss him as you drive down from the airport to the heart of the city, for he peeps at you from hoardings, billboards, banners,
posters, T-shirts and even gaudily painted rickshaws. Bangladesh cricket captain Shakib Al-Hasan is the most recognized face today in the land of Kazi Nazrul Islam and Surya Sen which is all set to co-host World Cup 2011 along with India and Sri Lanka.Indian players will not find the impish smile on Shakib’s face very amusing when they land here on Thursday. It is almost as if Shakib is having a chuckle ahead of his team’s lungopener against India, whom they had embarrassed big time in 2007.
The hype surrounding the India-Bangladesh match here is unbelievable. Even though Shakib’s team is scheduled to play all their group league games at their home ground, it’s the match against MS Dhoni’s Men in Blue that has become a rallying point for a nation that boasts a population of 15 crore.
And Bangladeshi fans have pinned all their hopes in this versatile all-rounder, who has been in peach form of late.
The slogan on a hoarding —- Bangladesher shaan, Bangladesher praan, Shakib Al-Hasan (He is our pride, he is our life, he is Shakib Al-Hasan) sums up Bangladesh’s love for their captain, who incidentally had successfully anchored the chase of India’s meagre tally of 191 when the two teams had met in the last World Cup.
Shakib, of course, should consider himself lucky because had it not been for an injury, it would have been the flamboyant Mashrafe Mortaza at the helm of the Bangladesh team instead of him.
Mortaza is easily the best all-rounder that Bangladesh have produced since joining the big league, and also the most popular. Knee surgeries can be tricky and after putting both his knees under the knife, Mortaza has struggled to regain peak fitness. A breakdown just before the World Cup squad was announced, prompted the selectors to dump the pace-bowling all-rounder, whose four for 38 had virtually knocked India out of the World Cup.
Mortaza, who was confident of bouncing back quickly from his latest injury, was crestfallen at being left out. He took it so badly that he has been living like a recluse ever since. Fans in his hometown of Narail were so incensed that they called a hartaal (bandh) in the Khulna division.
If a Bangladesh Cricket Board official is to be believed, a few days back Mortaza at least started retuning important calls. He has also ‘assured’ the BCB that he would show up at the Shere-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, near Dhaka, on Saturday to cheer for the Bangla Tigers against India.
Even if Mortaza fails to turn up, Shakib and his boys will not be short on support as every seat in the 25,000 capacity stadium has been sold out. And rest assured, there will be as many fans in the vicinity of the stadium to lend their voice to every Bangladesh appeal to make the atmosphere more electric.
The organizers have promised a colourful opening ceremony on opening ceremony and there is a rumour that Shakira may put in a surprise appearance, but make no mistake, everyone here is waiting for the real ‘whacka, whacka’ on Saturday when the action begins.
