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Partisan Viewpoint (Depending on which side you are on)

Captain, not your shoes!

by Nizamuddin Ahmed
Of all the shoes that presently trample the corridors of BCB (Bangladesh Cricket Board), there's one pair I would not like to be in. Not that the pair is despised. In fact they are highly venerated. They belong to Ro'qulbul Hassan. But 1 never call him by his famous name. Between us he responds to Captain. That's what 1 call him ever since he led Bangladesh on to the field. It seems decades ago.
Not many cricketers can match his achievements. He has bagged Individual and team laurels at club and national levels. He has been one of the stepping stones to Bangladesh's rise to International recognition. Above all. he is a thinking cricketer. Seldom have I heard him talk of anything else.
That's why there was hardly a murmur as he booked a chair in the board's Executive Committee long after the sports elec-
body: my captain-does? '
Tne above preamble was necessary because today the once stylish, almost grammatical. batsman walks a tight rope
He is caught between the unsavoury options of proving his neutrality as a national selector and growing disputation that he is putting his weight behind his son, who followed his father’s footsteps to the popping crease.
Some would argue that son Sajid Hassan is national material: some say he is past his prime. The fact is Junior was picked for Bangladesh A playing in a tri-nation tournament in Kuala Lumpur this month. The snag is Dad was a selector.
Roquibul's problem is he can't leave out Sajid from a team just because he is his son. That would be terribly unfair on the boy. who off and on has shown his potentialities. On the other hand, however rational he is as a selector, he invites a flood of criticism, not totally unwarrantable, the moment Sajid's name Is typed on the press release. Even if ^ajid de-servis a placelnr the teajii one hundred per cent, every time he is selected he will suffer from the blemish that he was 'actually' picked because of his dad. Prihaps Captain has never
been in such a no-win situation before. He needs a way out.
Firstly. BCB should never have named him a selector with his son still claiming a national spot. Secondly, looking at Sajid's future. Captain should not have accepted the honour.
I am told Indian great Sunil Gavaskar never became a national selector or coach because son Rohan Is vying to replicate father s feats. It would be seemingly unlikely that Sunny has never been proposed, being the pundit he is on television with his record breaking exploits as backup.
It would be best for my Captain to retire to the dressing room for the period Sajid sabre-rattles his way into the national team, if he can. It would serve the purpose of father and son admirably. Once Sajid grows out of the game. Captain could always adorn the membership of the Selection Committee..But for now he needs to be more a father than a selector. Not many parents can differentiate between the two. Even if they can. there are even fewer souls who believe they can.