Readers’ Forum

Congratulation Sri Lanka

I congratulate Sri Lanka for winning the both Asian Cup Cricket and the ICC T20 World Cup back to back concluded in Dhaka on Sunday. Teamwork, individual performance, determination to win, concentration of mind on the pitch and good captaincy were the factors of triumph. Sri Lanka proved that teamwork is a very vital factor. And that is why they defended their poultry 127 runs against New Zealand in the undeclared quarterfinal.
In contrast, pre-match favourites India failed to defend 129 runs against the eventual champions, which not a single Indian believed. Still, we congratulate them for displaying good brand of cricket through out the tournament. In fact, batsmen’s failure to make runs in the last five overs cost the Indian team heavily.
Last five overs in the T20 and last 10 overs in the 50 overs match are very important. Batsmen utilize it as much as possible as did the West Indies against Pakistan piling 82 runs.
I would like to thank the Bangladesh Cricket Board and the Bangladesh Government for successfully organising the month long tournament without any trouble, proving that the nation is ready to host any international tournament like this in the days to come.
Today I take the opportunity to remember two great personalities. One of them is Frank Worrell, former captain of the West Indies cricket team. To him, cricket is an ideal sport, and that is why the great West Indian captain played cricket so gently, that the critics compared it with the gentle breeze blowing from the south.
The other is Kerry Packer, the Australian TV tycoon. He is the man who injected revenues in cricket organising the World Series Cricket in 1978 with three sides-Australia, the West Indies and the World X1. Today’s cricketers should remain indebted to Kerry Packer who made them rich.

Ameer Hamzah
Dhaka