Ripon among the U-19WC MVP team

Ripon Mondol from the Bangladesh U-19 cricket team has got a place in the 2022 U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup’s Team of the Tournament for his outstanding performance.

The right-arm pacer has picked 14 wickets in the tournament and he is the only cricketer from Bangladesh who got selected by a selection panel including commentators Samuel Badree, Natalie Germanos, ICC Match Referee Graeme Labrooy, and journalist Sandipan Banerjee.

Ripon, a tall guy from Gazipur caught the eyes when he became the highest wicket-taker among the pacers in the first division cricket league where he played for Surjo Torun.

Shahin Hossain, a former cricketer who played for Barishal Division runs a cricket coaching center in the Mohakhali area. He first discovered the talent in Ripon and later on former national cricketers Khaled Mahmud and Manjurul Islam guided him, said Shahin,

“Ripon is very attentive and hard working. He never missed a training whether it was raining, strike, or anything. Former pacer Manjur Bhai also worked with him along with Kamrul Islam Rabby, now you can see that Rabbi has also improved”, Shahin told the Business Post.

“Khaled Mahmud also came to our academy a couple of times and he also encouraged him”, Shahin added.

“In some media reports, it was said that Ripon studied only up to class IV and left school for cricket. This is not true; he is now a college student in Tongi” Shahin told The Business Post.

Ripon is the only representative from Bangladesh in the “Team of the tournament”, though Ariful Islam could be a contender who scored back-to-back hundreds.  

Ripon Mondol took wickets in all but one of Bangladesh’s games. And, against Canada and India, he took four-fers to end the tournament on 14 wickets, the joint third-highest of the 2022 competition.

Shahin is very proud of Ripon and he hopes that the young pacer will reach a commendable height in international cricket,

“He has got the height and the pace. If keeps on working hard and get good coaching, he will be an asset for Bangladesh cricket in the coming days”, he said.