It was not easy for Habibul Bashar to accept the fact that he is no longer captain after his successful three-year stint with the Tigers. But what hurt him most was the way he was treated by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) at a very difficult time for him.

The 34-year-old most successful Bangladesh skipper got the news of his removal and subsequent appointment of Mohammad Ashraful as captain for both versions of the game from a reporter over telephone, while he was in India on a personal visit. This shambolic treatment by the BCB has saddened one of the finest batsmen of the country.

Under his captaincy Bangladesh won 29 out of 69 ODIs and have also experienced their maiden Test victory.

It was meant to be a good trip as he has been nominated for the prestigious Shera Bangali (Best Bengali) award for the year 2007 (by the 24-hour news channel STAR Ananda of Kolkata, India) but understandably he couldn't enjoy it fully in the end.

"No doubt it takes some time to normalise with the change in situation, especially when I had the expectation of continuing as the Test skipper. But what shocked me most was the way I was treated by the authorities. I expected a call from a board official about the decision. Do you think the expectation was too high for me?" said an emotionally-choked Bashar, who returned home yesterday, while talking with this reporter at his Lalmatia house.

It seemed that the experienced campaigner was not only disappointed by the board's last move but he had also been under scrutiny since the World Cup in West Indies, with especially the comment of a high-up upsetting him the most.

There was a whispering that the board had wanted a one-day retirement announcement from him after the World Cup and his decision to just quit the one-day captaincy after the India series simply displeased most of the board members.

Bashar however was not ready to deal with the matter in a clear-cut way but what he did believe was that there was no scope for anybody to force a player into retire-

HABIBUL BASHAR

ment.

"I think it's not fair for anybody to force a player to take a decision about his career. It surprised me the way people talked against me during the World Cup. True, my performance was not good but as a team we ended on a high note. But everybody simply forgot that before the World Cup my performance was not bad. How can one write off a player just after one tournament," Bashar exclaimed his sorrows.

"All those things put huge pressure on me and affected my performance in the last home series against India. I think the Mirpur Test is my biggest regret as a captain and I simply want to forget it though it is not too easy. It was a huge mistake to put the opponents in to bat first. No doubt I should be blamed for that but everybody should understand that our coach (Dav Whatmore) was also highly convinced," said a disappointed Bashar.

But the right-hander, who retained his place in the 15-member Test side for the upcoming three-match series in Sri Lanka, was desperately trying to put aside all these negative issues to prolong his career as a batsman.

"My main objective is to concentrate highly on my batting which was a little bit hampered by the captaincy role. I have never been a good fielder but I have improved a lot recently. I know I have to fight with the young players to keep my place in the side that's why I have to contribute as much as I can as a batsman," conceded Bashar.

He heaped praises on newly appointed captain Ashraful by branding his successor as a 'thinker'.

"We played together for the last seven years. Ash (Ashraful) is a very good thinker. He is not only a natural talent but also thinks about the game. He follows the game minutely, which is not so common in his generation. Definitely I will give my best support to him but I hope everybody will have patience on him. He should be given enough time to establish himself as a skipper," hoped Bashar.

"I would request everybody not to cry about the word consistency," he said adding that he had tried not to be a "big boss" in the team -- a fact he termed as his real strength as a captain.