Abdullah Al Mehdi

Novak Djokovic on Tuesday said he was “deeply sorry”. After all, he had set in motion the chaos during an ill-fated Adria Tour -- a tournament he himself organised through his foundation -- which acquainted tennis with the realities of the current pandemic.

“It’s only for the time being, right?” Abu Jayed asked this reporter when queried about how the saliva ban, ratified by the ICC last week, was going to impact him as the chief proponent of swing bowling in the country.

Cricket will have to come to grips with the new paradigms brought on by the coronavirus pandemic as the ban on saliva and use of substitutes ratified by the ICC yesterday. But the fast bowlers in Bangladesh, who appear ready to make the leap to the next level and enhance the country’s cricketing status further, will need to undergo a more seminal change.

Anyone who has seen Wasim Akram run in and bowl from the striker’s end would know that strange feeling -- a mixture of awe and fear of what is coming at them.

India’s batting maestro Virat Kohli is known for his steady resolve and endurance in the most difficult of chases.

Many national cricketers have fallen by the wayside after promising starts to their careers. The likes of Nasir Hossain, Suhrawardi Shuvo, pacer Shahdat Hossain and more recently Sabbir Rahman had shown early promise but did not blossom into regular performers for the national team and failed to feature for the side regularly.

“There are times when we back into a corner with no place left to back into … and then we go on attack and become mentally stronger,” Mashrafe Bin Mortaza reminisced on his injury troubles -- seven knee surgeries and more -- during an online meet with Tamim Iqbal on Monday night.

Nazmul Abedin Fahim is one of those few souls who had a purposeful hand in leading Bangladesh cricket against immense challenges.

GM Nausher Prince, the former Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) national selector had worked with some of the best talents in the country.

‘April is the cruellest month,’ T.S Eliot had written in The Waste Land. Given the current coronavirus crisis the world over, this April is likely to be another cruel month for mankind.

The heat in the corridors of the Camp Nou offices went up a few notches with six Barcelona board directors handing in their resignations on Thursday night.

Having preferred the couch at home to the stadium seats for a large part of a decade as a cricket fan, I was first introduced to a live experience by a group of friends who had gotten me a ticket for an international fixture between Bangladesh and touring Zimbabwe back in 2008.

Tamim Iqbal (TI): Truth be told, I am not facing any big issues. I am not getting annoyed, bored or anything else. Normally I do my running in the morning and after that I spend time with the kids. Maybe I’ll watch a movie and time passes.

Mustafizur Rahman’s yorkers have become a thing of the past for many, with the effectiveness of that particular skill not quite where it was when he first burst into the international scene with great feats against India before a brilliant season in the Indian Premier League in 2016.

Yesterday’s Bangabandhu Dhaka Premier League match between Prime Bank Cricket Club and Gazi Group pitted a host of national team stars and rising stars against each other and even an empty Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur could not dampen the battle of cricketing skills.

There are lots of suggestions and criticism in the air regarding Tamim Iqbal’s slow build-up to the innings, and they have only recently been quietened a bit by his two centuries against Zimbabwe.

Bangladesh go into the ODI series against Zimbabwe under the leadership of inspirational captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza as firm favourites after the Tigers handed the visitors an innings-defeat in the one-off Test at Dhaka.

The Bangladesh Under-19 team’s ace pacer Shoriful Islam bowled with fire and set an assertive tone for the rest of the young Tigers to follow during his side’s historic win over India in the final of the ICC U-19 World Cup final.

Bangladesh’s first World Cup-winning captain, Under-19 skipper Akbar Ali talked to The Daily Star’s Abdullah Al Mehdi over the phone from South Africa regarding the team’s triumph, discussing his and the team’s feelings after delivering the historic result.

Former Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar was left pleasantly surprised by the technical proficiency of age-group goalkeepers in Bangladesh after a session working with a number of goalkeepers at the Bangladesh Football Federation’s (BFF’s) artificial turf yesterday.