Home ›› 15 Jun 2022 ›› Sport
The classical leg-spinner, ripping googlies, and fast sliders were all on display by Rangpur Shishu Niketan’s premier leg-spinner, Shaikh Imtiaz Shihab, in the grand finale of the National School Cricket Tournament on Monday.
Shihab, who captained his side, spun webs around the opposition batters, picking up five wickets for 15 runs to clinch the title. The 15-year-old leggie is a natural specimen, who possesses a clean, fluid action and has strict control over his traits. A full repertoire of his abilities was on display on Monday.
In a country, where the prevalence of leg-spinners has nearly dried up, Shihab has emerged as a glimmering hope in the search for talented leg-spinners.
Shihab, who hails from Rangpur, picked up 33 wickets in 10 matches in the tournament, including three fifers and an eight-wicket haul.
Similar to him, many others have come through with standout performances, proving the importance of school cricket as the flag-bearer of producing aspiring cricketers from grass-root levels.
But traditionally, this promise has often not transpired into considerable substance. For example, the last two under-19 World Cup squads didn’t include a single leg-spinner. To add to this negligent approach, the national team has grossly avoided their breed and does not feature a leggie in their player pool.
With young guns such as Shihab taking up the art of leg-spin, the hope remains.
Shihab revealed his target of representing the national team and said he wanted to fulfil that void of a leg-spinner in the Bangladesh team.
“From my childhood, it has been my dream to become a very big leg-spinner for my country,” he said. “My target is to play for the national team. Since the Bangladesh team doesn’t have a leg-spinner, I am trying to prepare myself to reach my target.”
Shishu Niketan’s coach, Nasir Hasan Akash, praised his team’s resilience and shared how he found his most promising prospect.
“I first saw him when he was in class four. He was a keen observer and was fixated on what was happening on the ground. I called him up and threw him the cricket ball and he caught it well. He was a good learner and I decided to push him. People said that he wouldn’t be able to cope at such a young age and some feared he would die playing with the cricket ball. But I told them he would be fine,” he said about his first meeting with Shihab.
Shihab said that his biggest motivator is his father and that it was from him he got his passion for cricket.
“My father wanted to make me a cricketer. He took me everywhere and said he would try as much as possible to get me there,” he said.
The youngster bagged three awards on Monday, including the player of the match, best bowler, and the most coveted player of the tournament award.
