In January, 1977, Bangladesh took on MCC in a historical 3 day match, at Dhaka. Huge crowd gathered on each of the 3 days. Batting first Bangladesh scored 266/9, thanks mainly to a gritty 78 by Yousuf Babu. Still, some of the crowd thought this score would not be enough against a strong MCC batting line up. For MCC, opener Barclay scored a classy 65, and Micheal Mens fought along with the tail to remain unbeaten at 75, but MCC could only reach 347, a small lead of 81. Time and again, just as MCC threatened to take control, they were pegged back by the Bangladeshi spinner Nazrul Kader Lintu. Urged on by the crowd, he would run up to the crease (he had a unusually long and fast run up to the wicket for a spinner), and with the magic of his left arm spin would deceive the MCC batsmen. Eventually he finished with figures of 4/54. He was still very young at that time, and but for an unfortunate incident couple of years later, (more about that later), he would have become the greatest spinner to come from Bangladesh.
Kader was the leader of a spinning trio which was very influential in the early days of our cricket. Along with him was Rumy, the leg spinner, and Syed Ashraful, the off spinner. Both of them were all rounders, as they were equally adept at batting and bowling. The trio reached their zenith during the 1978-79 season. At, the slow turning tracks, they mesmerized the MCC batsmen. Only, the two ex-test players, the West Indian, Sir Conrad Hunt, and the Mumbai born England opener, John Jameson, had the necessary technique to handle the trio. Lintu and Rumy did the damage at Jessore, with 4/49 and 4/30 respectively. Lintu was the main strike bowler at Rajshahi and Chittagong, with figures of 5/67 and 4/58 respectively. Finally, at Dhaka, Rumy took 3/63, Lintu 3/79, and Ashraful 2/1, bowled the tourists out for a mere 210.
The support behind the stumps: In a sense the trio was lucky. They had Shafiqul-Haq-Hira behind the stumps. He was good when it came to keeping for the seamers, but when it came to standing up to the spinners he was simply brilliant. The numerous catches and stampings he had of the slow bowlers is a testimony to this fact. Standing up-to Lintu was a special challenge, as he was much quicker than an average spinner. Rumy, too used to mix up his googleys with the leg breaks.
The Abrupt End: Yet, at a time, when they all looked set to be permanent features of the national side for a long time, they disappeared, one after the other. And it happened very quickly. Lintu's departure was the most tragic. During the early summer of 1979, the BCCB organized a month long training camp as a preparation for the upcoming ICC trophy in England. Lintu, at that time was studying Engineering at BUET. Attending the camp would have meant losing a whole semester at the University. Lintu missed the training camp, and the selectors retaliated by dropping him from the side. Soon, he went abroad for higher studies, and that was the end of his international career.
Lintu's presence was sorely missed during the Trophy. Ashraful's magic of spin (7/23) helped Bangladesh win a low scoring game against Fiji, but in the important match against Canada, Bangladesh spinners failed to keep up the pressure after the medium pacer Badshah had bowled brilliantly to take 4/17.
Ashraful himself retired in 1981/82, and although Rumy carried on until 1983-84, his performances with both bat and ball suffered immensely following an injury during the 80-81 season
Coincidently, or not, Hira also retired after the 83-84 season.
Azhar, the off-spinner: Somewhat unexpectedly, the departure of the trio didn't seem such a big loss at the beginning. This was partly due to the arrival in the scenes of another extremely gifted spinner. Anwarul Amin Azahar, the tall off break bowler, had to spend the 70's in the shadows of others. He however, got his chance in the 80-81 season, against MCC. He was already in his 30's, but having waited for such a long time for his chance, he was determined to make the most of it. Playing for Central Zone, at Fairdupur, he took 3/24 in the 1st innings, and with medium pacer Azam taking 7/18, MCC were bowled out for a mere 79. But, an even greater success awaited Azhar at Rajshahi. On a slow turning track, Azhar bowled with nagging accuracy to take 6 1st innings wicket for a mere 58 runs. Only, the veteran John Jameson, in his 2nd tour of Bangladesh, with a patient 73 defied Azhar.
Azhar was one of the outstanding successes of his side in the 2nd ICC trophy in 1982. He didn't take many wickets (8 wickets from 7 games), but both his average (19.37) and economy rate (2.44 runs per over) were very impressive.
Still, the selectors were reluctant to consider him suitable for the one day game. He was in and out of the team during the South East Asian cricket in Jan, 1984, and then he was overlooked for the Kenya tour in February. But, the selectors recalled him for the 3 day match against Hyderabad Blues at Dhaka. On a turning track, Azhar with 4 wickets and Rumy with 2, destroyed the Indian middle order, before the Blues captain Gundappa Vishwanath repaired the damage.
The Barren Period: the 2nd half of the 80's can be described as a barren period when it came to spinning talents in the country. With Azhar gone, the spot for the main spin bowler of the national team was open. Yet, Wahidul Ghani, the leg spinner, and Ramchand Goala, the orthodox left arm spinner, who were enormously successful in the domestic arena, failed at the international stage. In the absence of a regular spinner, it was the batsmen who started rolling their arms over to bowl some spins. Lipu, Misha, Masum, Shantoo, Shakil Kashem and others, became batsmen cum spin bowlers. They did their best, but it wasn't adequate for the international level. Specially, during the tour of Pakistan in March, 1986, and the subsequent ICC trophy during the summer, the absence of a specialist slow bowler was acutely felt.
The absence of a top spin bowler had a lot to do with the current trend then. In the initial stages of ODI cricket, it was generally believed that spin bowling is not suited to 50 over game. Even India, the traditional hub of spinning talent was reluctant to use spin bowling on ODI cricket. They won the 1983 WC with the spin bowlers Kirti Azad and Ravi Shahstri contributing precious little. The efforts of Abdul Kader and Maninder Singh during the 1987 WC somewhat changed the notion. Bangladesh, however, had to wait until the end of the decade for the arrival of its next spin bowler, the left arm spinner Enamul Haq Moni.
The Allrounders-Bulbul, Moni and Rafiq. These 3 can be considered to be exactly opposite to Azhar. They can be said to be born for one day cricket. Everything about them, their bowling, batting, fielding was suited to One day cricket. Enamul Haq Moni, the left arm spinner, and more than useful left handed bat, first came into prominence during the 1988-89 season. Playing for Bangladesh Biman, he performed regularly with both bat and ball to help Biman win the Dhaka League. He became a regular member of the national team in 1989-90. Ideally suited to one day game, he produced his best performances in the 3 ICC Trophy Tournaments, in 1990, 1994, & 1997. In June 1990, he had the best average among Bangladeshi bowlers, taking 11 wickets at 19.18 a piece (economy rate 2.78 runs per over). His best bowling, 3/26 came in the 1st Round group stages match against Fiji. But his most memorable moment came in the 2nd Round group match against Denmark. Despite his economical bowling (2/26 from 12 overs), Denmark reached 233/9, from 60 overs, a healthy score in those days standards. In reply, Bangladesh was kept in the hunt by the Chittagong trio, Nobel 85, Akram 50 and Nannu 37. But, it was Moni from Comilla, who provided the finishing touch with a quick-fire 17* to take his side to a thrilling 3 wicket victory in the final over of the match. He was the obvious choice for the MOM award.
Aminul Islam, more commonly known as Bulbul, actually came to the national team before Moni. Bulbul, however, was mainly picked as a batsman, and he was basically a part time off break bowler. However, whenever opportunities came his way, he did his best to show his ability as a bowler. For example, against a strong Decan Blues batting line up in Jan, 1990, Bulbul took 5/76. The Indian side got off to a flying start with the openers Raman Lamba (123) & Sridhar (107) putting on 238 for the 1st wicket. Yet, they were bowled out for only 338 as Bulbul and Moni (2/61) brought their team back into the game. After the openers, only Vivek Jaishima with 50 showed any resistance against the spinners. It was a memorable game for Bulbul, as he scored 47 and 44* with the bat.
The most interesting member of the trio is Md. Rafiq. Back in 1992/93 season, while playing for Bangladesh Biman, he was a leading wicket taker in the Dhaka league bowling his left arm medium pacers. Despite his short build up he aspired to be a fast bowler, in the mould of Wasim Akram. It was another Pakistani, all rounder Wasim Haider, who suggested him to take up spin bowling. Rafiq followed his suggestions, and he was so successful in his new role, that the national selectors included him in the Bangladesh squad for the 2nd SAARC Cricket Tournament at Dhaka, in Dec. 1994. He enjoyed a highly successful tournament in the slow turning pitches of Dhaka. Especially his 3/26, against India ‘A", helped Bangladesh win a do-or-die match.
In the eyes of many, the arrival of Rafique automatically meant the end of Moni's career. Very few teams in world cricket go in a limited over game with two left arm slow bowlers. Yet, somewhat surprisingly, Moni and Rafique formed a wonderful spinning combination. The duo reached their peak during Bangladesh's successful venture in the 1997 ICC Trophy. Rafique and Moni, with 19 and 12 wickets respectively were among the most successful bowlers of the tournament.
Unlike Moni, Rafique went onto have a highly successful time in ODIs and test matches arena. Following Bangladesh's success at the 1997 ICC Trophy, there was a big change in Bangladesh cricket. Suddenly, they found themselves playing in the big league. Instead of playing against Kenya and Holland, our boyz had to take on the mighty Aussies or the fully professional English. Unfortunately, for many of our cricketers this transformation was just too big. Most of them failed at the biggest stage. Rafique, along with Habibul basher and Khaled Masud, were the only exceptions. Of course, with his nagging accuracy with the ball, and his explosive style with the bat, he was tailor made for the 50 over game. He was our hero in our first ever ODI win, against Kenya, in May 1999. First he took, 3/56, and then promoted to open the batting, he blasted 77, sharing a century opening stand with more orthodox, Athar Ali Khan. But, it was his test performances that surprised many, including the selectors.
Although, he was a member of the Bangladesh team in their first ever test match, the selectors did not think him as a test bowler. Thus, he was very much a fringe player in the test team. Things, however, changed completely after his 6/77 against SA in May, 2003. After that, he did not look back. He took 17 wickets in the 3 match series against Pak in September. In the slow wicket, he used his arm ball very well to get a number of LBW decisions in his favor. His only disappointment was at Multan, where the local boy Inzi took Pakistan to a narrow 1 wicket win. Neither Rafiq, nor anyone else could deliver the killer blow on the 4th day. Rafiq ended his test career in Feb, 2008, against SA. But, he went out in style, taking his 100 th wicket by dismissing RJ Peterson. With 1059 runs, including a 100 against WI in his belt already, he became the 1st Bangladeshi to complete the test match double.
Razzak and Enamul(Jr.): The modern era:
Left armer Abdur Razzak has been enormously successful in ODI cricket. 138 wickets at an average of 27.15 is highly impressive, less impressive is his test record of 14 wickets at almost 70 runs a piece in test matches. His nagging accuracy makes him ideally suited for 50 and 20 over game, but he simply does not have the variety required for the longer version of the game. That's why the selectors have generally preferred Enamul Haq (Jr.) for test matches. He fully vindicated the selector's faith in him, with a match winning effort of 6/45 in the 2nd innings aggainst Zimbabwe at Chittagong in 2005, to set up Bangladesh's first ever test victory.He followed this with a career \best 12 wicekt haul in the drawn test at Dhaka. Unfortunately, there is no consistency with Enamul. One day, he can be a match winner, the next day he can be unusually expensive. Thus, it can be a gamble to play him, especially against the stronger opponents. Fortunately, he is still very young, and still has a lot of time to improve.
The daddies of them all: Sakib Al Hasan: Over the last 12 months or so, Sakib Al Hasan has emerged as one of the most outstanding cricketing talents in world cricket. With the bat, he has scored heavily, and with his slow left arm spinners he has picked up wickets regularly. While, he always had the potential as a batsman, it is his improvement as a bowler that would surprise everybody. When, he first came into the side, in 2006, he was a batsman who could bowl a bit. But, since the retirement of Rafiq, he has taken over the mantle of the country's main spin bowler. Neither, Razzak, nor Enamul (Jr.) has been consistent enough at the highest level, yet Sakib has gone from strength to strength. The only worry regarding the lad is that he might burn out too quickly. We should remember that, apart from his batting and bowling, he also has the responsibility of leading the side.
However, if he can fulfill his early promise, (he is still in his early 20's), he would eventually become the greatest spinner our country has ever produced. He is a product of a long and illustrious tradition. The tradition started with Lintu and blossomed with Rafiq. Now, with Sakib approaching the status of a world class spinner, our history of spin bowling is entering a new era.