The last few weeks has been a great advertisement for Test cricket with two excellent cricket series going on, whose excellence is even more brought into focus by the wholly needless, inconsequential tri-angular one day international snoozefest in Dhaka between India, Sri Lanka (against whom we have got stuck into an infinite loop of matches) and Bangladesh—–a sequence of matches whose only significance is that it allows BCCI to buy the Bangladeshi vote in the ICC by getting them some money.
Personally of course, I thoroughly enjoy myself anytime India plays Bangladesh. Not so much because of the cricket on offer but of the sheer partisanship of Bangladeshi fans, whose endearing jingoism I experience first-hand on Bangladeshi bulletin boards. First of all Bangladeshi fans have a Ghajini-Memento-type problem whereas while they have excellent long-term memory (Before any match against India, there will be a series of posts about how Bangladesh will beat the pants off India like they did in World Cup 2007), their short-term memory (of repeated embarassingly heavy defeats) is remarkably bad. Second, they are perhaps the most optimistic people I have ever seen—–at least in one case (The T20 World Cup) there was a ‘victory thread’ on the bulletin board even before the match started; so confident were they of their awesomeness. Thirdly their power of analysis is formidable —I remember having read in a number of posts that KKR would have won IPL-2 if only they had used their most precious weapon, Mash, instead of having let him warm the bench. (As far as I recall, Mashrafe played one match in IPL 2 and was royally carted all over the park). Finally, right after they lose(which is not a rare occurrence), a trawl through their posts is as intellectually invigorating as a read-through of a Rediff comment thread with India once again getting the blame for Bangladesh’s defeat , because evidently the BCCI (which wants world domination through money power) does not want to encourage Bangladesh as they are afraid of India’s position in the cricket world.
The only thing I enjoy more than the fervor of Bangladeshi fans is the fervor of Bangladeshi megaheroes like Dipjol whose song (Video Link: Not Safe For Sanity) “Poonth koira dimu ami poonth koira dimu” [ Translated to: I will eject gas so bad you will be reduced to ashes] and of Bangladeshi Na’vi Avatar singer [Video link] are always to be found on my play-list when Rubel comes running into bowl.
Coming back to cricket and Bangladeshi fans, here is a picture from a Bangladeshi newspaper. Even though they were comprehensively defeated, the press there seeks to accentuate the positives by a caption that translates to: “After being defeated by Tamim in the battle between bat and ball, Zaheer Khan’s reaction”. It takes a special kind of chutzpah, which I positively adore, to take this “Bangladesh owned India” line even when comprehensively beaten.
Zaheer Khan of course does deserve to be beaten in the battle between bat and ball. This is not just because he looks like a Parsee Aunty out on a kitty party with the amount of weight he has gained and because of his inability to get down before the ball slips through his legs, but because his aggressiveness is sometimes too close to the Sreesanth buffoonery we all so detest. It is ok to do the odd glaring and the foul comeback when you have the upper hand on the batsman but to do so when under the cosh makes you look totaly silly. Like doing the verbals on Gilchrist in the first over of the 2003 finals after bowling wides and being taken apart.
On the subject of overweight Indian players, its shocking nowadays to see the once-lighting-fast Yuvraj becoming the Patiala-Peg uncle with the paunch and the slow gait.
While he is still a very good batsman, the decline in his fielding skills has been depressingly steep. As has been of the Indian team’s which is now many notches below the standard of the 2002–2003 team—a team that had Ganguly, Laxman, Dravid and Sachin—with Harbhajan, once a fast mover and a safe catcher, now becoming an embarrassment on the field with his catching.
Again while we are on ‘catching’ one cannot but not raise a hat to Kamran Akmal (who somehow reminds me of I S Johar) dropping everything that came his way, then refusing to drop himself and then finally being “rested”, kicking and screaming, by the team management. What of course I found so heartening was the brotherly love that Umar Akmal sought to show for his brother, threatening to leverage his necessity for the team by faking injury and trying to withdraw from the XI if only to keep elder brother from being dropped, the kind of “Yahaan main ghar ghar kheli” type of bhai-bhai-ness I thought never existed outside Zee serials. Brought a tear to my eye. Ram Lakhan ki jodi yaad aayi.
Reminding me once again why Test cricket is so thrilling and why Pakistan totally rocks.
Sorry Bangladeshi fans you have some way still to go to match this entertainment level.
[Blogging shall remain sporadic for the next few weeks as final edits are made to book. Today after watching India lose yet another final had the urge to pen down everything that was going through my mind. Hence the post.]
The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
First! Will read the post now!
if only Bangladeshi team gave iPods to players like you do to first posters… 🙂
First!
Have not read too many Bangladesh fans posts/threads… where did you read them GB?
As for the ODI series, the best thing that can be said about it is that at least India and Sri Lanka won’t play each other for another 3 months now.
Well, third, but I read the post before exulting!
@JZ Ipod is soo noughtie. I’ll go for the Nexus1
” … many notches below the standard of the 2002–2003 team—a team that had Ganguly, Laxman, Dravid and Sachin—with Harbhajan, once a fast mover and a safe catcher, now becoming an embarrassment on the field with his catching.”
– missed the context. Was it fielding. In that case what is Ganguly doing in that list. I am a bheto bangali die hard Dada fan but couldn’t quite agree with that.
The point is that Anonymous, even with those “not so good” fielders in the team our standards in 2002-2003 were higher.
@GB ..Are you doing any reader previews / trials for your book ? If so, I would like to volunteer. 🙂
Surely … you must be feeling on the verge of orgasm now that you are nearing completion ?
Well, returning after a hiatus and too many great post to read…Everytime I think of Bangaldesh it reminds me of Ritwik Ghatak.
Zhaheer and yuvraj are following his captain. look at dhoni’s belly. they are gaining fat faster then the runs or wicket. As far as fielding is concern i wish they don’t dive. because in diving too they can’t stop the ball
beautifully said ….its awful the way Indians have beein feilding specially bhajji and the numerous Ind-SL matches going on; on the other hand amazing work of Collingwood and whole England – SA series is Test cricket at its best. Waiting for the book GB, though a dumb question in my mind – with a deadline already set does it not weaken the content of the book? Or its just that the book was over – stuff related to publishing is going on?
ALlso, GB the time that shows up against my last comment is 10:41 PM while the time I posted was 5 30 PM EST which makes around 4 AM IST…. how is 10 41 is it the server time(must be) which is some where not in US and India? Donno how this works….just makes me curious.
@Sumit,
Default settings inside WP. Never modified them. As to the book, finished writing it months ago. Its just that there are small things you need to take care of—typos, inconsistent use of words (like using Bullah and Bulla) and repetitive constructions (2 successive sentences having similar construction or same word repeated). Every pass reveals more of these. A tweak here and a tweak there is always needed. This is hopefully the final pass.
We are all looking forward to your book, Arnab…. Keep typing away. 🙂
Dipjol (who looks like Ravi Kishen after a long summer without either sunscreen or dietary restraint) is the undisputed champion of the “crass-villain-who-likes-to-party-with-buxom-ladies” genre, a la Shakti Kapoor. The ‘poot’ video is a case in point and here are a few more :
“Kolshi phoota koira dimu” : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSWEDoy1zP8
“Sunday Monday koloz koira de” : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwChUrIEQPI
I don’t know the latest on Dipjol but he was sentenced to an eight year jail term : http://www.sylhettimes.com/2007/11/29/dipjol-jailed-for-eight-years/
I have to admit though, that some of the Dhakai ads are quite funny, such as these :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4vW1ufOqDQ : PURE GOLD !!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x98QKxAZP5Y : Non sequiturs are a specialty in opar Bangla advertising
Haha Good one! Lakin GB “Khushi se koi jeeta hai khushi se usko jeeno do”….!
Any comments on Poting being voted “Player of the Decade?”
At least the Bangla fielding is better than Pakistan’s. They continue not to care about that aspect of their sport. Today Aamer, dropped Ponting when he came. He then scratched around and is now batting on a 100. 🙂
Pakistan actually dropped Akmal more as a reaction to the dismay in the Aussie press questioning his place in the team. If there was no dismay, I have no doubt that Akmal would have played. Their captain was almost nonchalant about the dropped catched after the Sydney Test.
England SA has been a very good series too. Loved Dale Steyn’s spell in the last test.
ok I feel the need of saying something here. I’ve been to Bangladesh and i’ve seen their print media dementia. Its not only with India they do pretty much the same with all other countries including Australia!!!! You ask any guy on the streets of dhaka he will give you full stats of when and how convincingly Bangladesh has defeated Pakistan or Australia (makes it easier for them to remember all stats since there isn’t much to remember!)
It’s almost the same as 2001 eden victory against Australia where Bhajji and Laxman did the trick and Anandabazar Patrika’s headline were “Dada’s captaincy sailed India to sensational victory”!!! I see no harm in that- it’s just the matter of demand and supply. just give the readers what they want. None of the english dailys had Dada’s name on headline (though they covered him with full glory in the main story).
On a different note Bangladesh is doing some good work with rabindra sangeet. its not only dipjol all around.
(FYI i am not from Bangladesh. I just hate biased opinions, mostly in form of comments. I prefer humor over satire :P)
Its actually a waste talking about BD, they have been playing cricket for too long now to use the “beginner” excuse now.
But their antipathy for India is quite plain to see. In fact smashing BD is actually similar to downing pak although its actually bad for the Indian team to play them skillwise.
Playing harder opponents generally increases the skill level…unless you are BD )
“the wholly needless, inconsequential tri-angular one day international snoozefest”
and
“after watching India lose yet another final had the urge to pen down everything that was going through my mind”
Hmmm… 🙂
Very true. Very unnecessary series. The only thing sillier than the series was the sight of our cricketers rolling around the field :(.
Given the recent developments I thought your next sports post would be on Hockey.. But may be you have nothing more to say since there has been no change and hockey is in the same state it was a few years back.. may be a couple of notches down since last year.
Arnabda, I was hoping you would mention the thrilling Ranji finals in this post….especially since besides Manish Pandey the other “hero” of the second innings is your favourite seam bowler ever …. “Ajit Agarkar” ……
All the best for the book release.
Request for a post on Ranji Final !!
@Wrichik
Apart from the 8 years imprisonment that Dipjol got for tax-evasion…..He got another 7 + 17 years imprisonment for two arms and ammunition cases (See the link below).
http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/search_index.php?page=detail_news&news_id=8586
That’s a whopping total of 32 years in prison for this BNP leader (unless he appealed against his sentencing or unless the prison sentences run in parallel).
Hey Dipjol ! Just one word of caution – “When in jail, don’t drop the soap.” LOL.
@Dibyo , I was expecting the same when I read the title but then figured out that it was written a day earlier :-(.
I stand corrected…Dipjol didn’t get just 32 years in imprisonment, but a whopping time of 45 years in jail.
http://www.ittefaq.com/issues/2009/05/26/all0020.htm
Dipjol was earlier given 45 years’ imprisonment for possessing illegal firearms and ammunition and dodging income tax.
Dipjol still faces numerous charges including terrorism, extortion, illegal grabbing of government land, tax evasion and murder.
Another point that I have always encountered with Bangladeshis is they keep asking me why I support India and not Bangladesh. Like hello, I am an “Indian Bengali” with no connections to Bangladesh whatsoever excpet a grand-mother who was born there some 80 years back but came to India just before the partition which frankly doesn’t count for anything. No matter, how many times and in how many ways I try to explain to them that I am a bengali from India and therefore when it comes to choosing between countries I will pick India, not only in cricket but just about anything is life, they seem to have a hard time understanding this. According to them, if you area Bangali, you are automatically a Bangladeshi.
@yourfan2
“Today Aamer, dropped Ponting when he came. He then scratched around and is now batting on a 100.”
Man, Ponting really has a stamina!!!
The post reminds me of my father attending an India-Bangladesh match in Dhaka. So this was one of the matches Bangladesh did win and after every wicket India lost, the spectators around him would patronizingly egg him on: Dada apnio hattali den. My poor father! Missed the one before where India had won
I think it was Hayden not Gili who Zaheer was after in 2003 finals which it turns out was a dada strategy…
Cud u also mention where do we find these bangladesh fans posts..??
Yes.:) And remarkable appetite too. Player of the Decade, after all!
While on the topic of our players being rather rotund and pathetic in the fielding dept,it seems that the real players were playing at the Ranji final.
Have a look at Manish Pandey’s catch.I kid you not…second only to Collingwood’s gravity defying catch of Hayden.
You actually read Bangladeshi forums !!
Heck,, you actually read such forums.. Bangladeshi or not?