2024-09-17 10:59:26
Mehdi Hasan Miraj was ahead in the limelight. Nazmul Hossain Shanto is a little behind. In the age groups, under-15, 17, 19 Mirage played quietly under the leadership. Served as Deputy. Miraj was the first of the two to make it to the national team after crossing youth cricket. Shanto joined later. Miraj became an indispensable cricketer of the national team from the start. Quiet feet take a long time to find their own texture. There was a chapter of ups and downs with drama.
Shant is now the captain of the national team in three formats after passing through the difficult path. Mirage is only in the ODI and Test teams. Miraj is a calm captain on top, but he thinks Miraj is the captain inside. Shanta told the story on BCB’s Home of Cricket podcast, ‘The funny thing here is that we are together from the under-15 team. Miraj is my captain from the U-15 team. I still believe that he is my captain. He knows it.’
Playing together from the age group, Miraj and Shanta’s friendship is quite intense. So, who is the captain, who is in charge, who is outside the team, who is inside is not a very important thing for those two. Shanta said, ‘The thing is, when we played together it wasn’t about him being the captain or me being the captain. He never felt that I was the captain. And now I am the captain, he himself may not think that I am the captain. He comes to me when he feels that it will be good for the team. When he was the captain I used to visit and give feedback. The understanding is so good.’
Looking back, Shanto told a lot of unknown things, “I remember the World Cup we played for the U-19 team or the series we played earlier, I heard the selectors saying, “This is the first U-19 team, there is no confusion between the captain and the vice-captain. “No… there is a little jealousy. But we don’t have that thing at all. We have such a good understanding since that time. We are still playing together.’
Shanto also shared another story of friendship, trust, confidence, ‘Another interesting thing, when we started playing together in the national team, I was playing or not playing. And the mirage then settled down. At one point he came and said to me, “I believe you will be the captain of the Bangladesh team before me.” I don’t know why he said that. Such understanding is within us. Who is the captain, who is not the captain is not among us.
From what belief did Miraj say such things? Hear the answer from his mouth, ‘I don’t feel like it all the time…I feel like it all of a sudden. When suddenly something comes out of my mind, I can’t keep it in my mind again. And I tell it to whoever comes about it. I told him that if we play together in the Bangladesh team, you will be the captain before me.