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Ball in captain's court

SPORTS REPORTER
Five years ago Naimur Rahman walked on to the hollowed turf of the Bangabandhu National Stadium with his opposite number, the India's captain Sourav Ganguly for the toss. That marked the beginning of Bangladesh's Test dawn and since then, three others have had the privilege of leading the Tigers.
Without going into the details, it can be said that the team's character and image has gone through a definitive change for the better from its formative years and the faces then and now bear little resemblance excepting a few. But what hasn't changed is the philosophy of limiting the captain's area of authority. Also, from the very beginning, Bangladesh skippers have been kept on their toes courtesy of the tradition that stipulates captains are chosen on a series by series basis.
Thankfully, men who matter are
finally thinking differently and present skipper Habibul Bashar, by far Bangladesh's best Test batsman and most successful captain will in all probability, get a chance to exert more influence in selection related matters in the coming days. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) will approve the Tigers' final tour party to Sri Lanka in the second week of August and barring a near miracle, Bashar will be retained as captain. That's the irony because on performance and success rate, Bashar should be the automatic choice to lead into the immediate future at least and should be spared the mere formality of waiting for an official announcement ahead of every series.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Ali Asghar also apparently sees nothing wrong with more involvement of the captain in team selection and also agrees on the assurance factor. But he wants the initiative to come from the man in question.
"He (Bashar) should let his
desires known to the board and should tell us what he needs to perform his job smoothly. We are not rigid about anything. That's why these things are open for discussion," said Asghar on Sunday.
According to the present policy of the board, the captain hardly has any scope to be a part of the selection procedure officially but many feel the time has come to change that mentality.
Chief selector Faruque Ahmed recently said that at the moment, it was almost impossible to make the captain an integral part of the selection procedure because of the artificial uncertainty created regarding who is going to lead before every series. He suggested naming the captain for a lengthy period.
"We are maintaining that policy because we lack consistent performers in the team. But if everybody thinks that now is the time to change, we are ready to discuss it in our board meeting.
"We have a plan to continue with
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Bashar until the next World Cup (in 2007) but everything will depend on him. No doubt Bashar has a bright record as a captain because during his time Bangladesh have won seven one-day matches and also their maiden Test and one-day series," said the BCB chief.
Bashar has been leading the Tigers since the tour of Zimbabwe in January 2004 after replacing Khaled Mahmud.
Under his captaincy Bangladesh have played ten Tests winning one, drawing three and losing six. They also recorded seven ODI wins from 27 matches.
Mahmud also emphasised on the importance of the captain given a more active role in the selection process.
"I had felt during my duration how important it is to have a say in selection. Almost all the Test captains around the world enjoy that privilege but unfortunately that has never been the case here," said Mahmud while talking to Daily Star Sport.
"If the players see that the skipper is not considered as a voice in team selection, naturally they will not look up to him with the kind of respect normally reserved for someone with authority," said Mahmud.