Himanshu Shekhar
For those who are into music and, especially rock, Basket Case would remind you of the early 90’s band called Green Day. For others like me, it is a term which renowned diplomat, political scientist and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize winner Henry Kissinger once used to describe Bangladesh’s position in the South-Asian region soon after its birth in 1971. Referring Bangladesh as “bottomless basket,” Kissinger dismissed its economy as hopeless. The Secretary of States in Richard Nixon’s tenure was soon a hit with headline hunters, especially of the West, who made it a point to keep the Basket Case parallel alive.
Not a big fan of India and the role it played in the independence of Bangladesh, Kissinger’s comments were seen as a hard-hitting reality then. Fast-forward it to present. Once a struggling nation, Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in various fields, be it its economy, human-growth index, polity, agriculture or sports. Regardless of the political unrest that the country has witnessed time-to-time in the past, it has managed to host global cricketing tournaments, showcasing the world its eagerness to free itself from the challenges arising out of uncontrolled population and poverty. Cricket has been an integral part of this success story.
The 42-year-young nation is on cusp of holding it’s first-ever ICC World Twenty20 event which is bound to attract cricketers and journalists from all-around the globe, giving themselves a chance to prove Kissinger wrong.
Cricket – CLR James once wrote – is never played in a vacuum, a fact often emphasised by my editor. So, when the world media and cricketers reach places like the mountainous city of Sylhet or the southern outskirts of Dhaka called Fatullah, it will give Bangladesh an opportunity to showcase its culture, demography, development and its heritage. The country first hosted a major cricketing tournament back in 1998. Sceptics then gave Bangladesh little chance but the hosts managed to pull-off the Wills International Cup successfully, paving way for the future. A year later, Bangladesh took a giant leap by qualifying for the 1999 cricket World Cup. It was time when cricket was taking over football as the most popular sport in the country. With cricketers gaining wider recognition in the country and cricket attracting more business than any other sports, came the 2011 cricket World Cup. By far, the biggest sporting extravaganza the nation ever hosted. It provided Bangladesh the impetus. Places like Dhaka, Fatullah, Chittagong made news headlines not for the routine flood, cyclone or political unrest that is often the case. The $ 100 million that the Sheikh Hasina-led government had spent helped them forge a brand. Apart from giving cricket a fillip, it also helped country’s “social and economic condition”, a fact then accepted by the Hasina government.
At a time when the country is making substantial progress in terms of its Human Development Index, innovations in food production, girl education, family-planning, child-health care among others; it is set to present the ICC World T20 as a new dawn. Today, as things stand, Bangladesh is the fourth-largest producer of rice in the world. It’s GDP is showing a 6.3% growth rate from –14% in 1971while its annual gross domestic production stands at $ 115.6 billion from $ 8.93 in 1970. Needless to say that the nation has come a long way to bring it out from a third world poor country to position itself as a developing world economy.
Media reports suggest that the Bangladesh’s government has spent more than $ 20 million on stadiums and cricketing infrastructure while the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has spent some $10 million. $30 million has been spent on roads which has helped cut the road journey from Dhaka to Fatullah from two hours to just half-an-hour.
Now let us get to the other side of the story. Is Bangladesh the only gainer with cricket’s rise in the country? Maybe not. Expansion of the sport in places like Bangladesh (Nepal, Afghanistan come as few other examples) helps it break free from the elite antipodean shackles. Bangladesh’s rise is a beautiful little story, the ICC World T20 gives them an opportunity to take a big step and turn it into an epic novel.
Last but not the least, pardon me for invoking CLR James again. "I haven't the slightest doubt that the clash of race, caste and class did not retard but stimulated West Indian cricket," James once famously wrote. I see no reason why it should not fit in for Bangladesh.
(Note: Bangladesh’s GDP data are from the year 2012)
For those who are into music and, especially rock, Basket Case would remind you of the early 90’s band called Green Day. For others like me, it is a term which renowned diplomat, political scientist and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize winner Henry Kissinger once used to describe Bangladesh’s position in the South-Asian region soon after its birth in 1971. Referring Bangladesh as “bottomless basket,” Kissinger dismissed its economy as hopeless. The Secretary of States in Richard Nixon’s tenure was soon a hit with headline hunters, especially of the West, who made it a point to keep the Basket Case parallel alive.
Not a big fan of India and the role it played in the independence of Bangladesh, Kissinger’s comments were seen as a hard-hitting reality then. Fast-forward it to present. Once a struggling nation, Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in various fields, be it its economy, human-growth index, polity, agriculture or sports. Regardless of the political unrest that the country has witnessed time-to-time in the past, it has managed to host global cricketing tournaments, showcasing the world its eagerness to free itself from the challenges arising out of uncontrolled population and poverty. Cricket has been an integral part of this success story.
The 42-year-young nation is on cusp of holding it’s first-ever ICC World Twenty20 event which is bound to attract cricketers and journalists from all-around the globe, giving themselves a chance to prove Kissinger wrong.
Cricket – CLR James once wrote – is never played in a vacuum, a fact often emphasised by my editor. So, when the world media and cricketers reach places like the mountainous city of Sylhet or the southern outskirts of Dhaka called Fatullah, it will give Bangladesh an opportunity to showcase its culture, demography, development and its heritage. The country first hosted a major cricketing tournament back in 1998. Sceptics then gave Bangladesh little chance but the hosts managed to pull-off the Wills International Cup successfully, paving way for the future. A year later, Bangladesh took a giant leap by qualifying for the 1999 cricket World Cup. It was time when cricket was taking over football as the most popular sport in the country. With cricketers gaining wider recognition in the country and cricket attracting more business than any other sports, came the 2011 cricket World Cup. By far, the biggest sporting extravaganza the nation ever hosted. It provided Bangladesh the impetus. Places like Dhaka, Fatullah, Chittagong made news headlines not for the routine flood, cyclone or political unrest that is often the case. The $ 100 million that the Sheikh Hasina-led government had spent helped them forge a brand. Apart from giving cricket a fillip, it also helped country’s “social and economic condition”, a fact then accepted by the Hasina government.
At a time when the country is making substantial progress in terms of its Human Development Index, innovations in food production, girl education, family-planning, child-health care among others; it is set to present the ICC World T20 as a new dawn. Today, as things stand, Bangladesh is the fourth-largest producer of rice in the world. It’s GDP is showing a 6.3% growth rate from –14% in 1971while its annual gross domestic production stands at $ 115.6 billion from $ 8.93 in 1970. Needless to say that the nation has come a long way to bring it out from a third world poor country to position itself as a developing world economy.
Media reports suggest that the Bangladesh’s government has spent more than $ 20 million on stadiums and cricketing infrastructure while the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has spent some $10 million. $30 million has been spent on roads which has helped cut the road journey from Dhaka to Fatullah from two hours to just half-an-hour.
Now let us get to the other side of the story. Is Bangladesh the only gainer with cricket’s rise in the country? Maybe not. Expansion of the sport in places like Bangladesh (Nepal, Afghanistan come as few other examples) helps it break free from the elite antipodean shackles. Bangladesh’s rise is a beautiful little story, the ICC World T20 gives them an opportunity to take a big step and turn it into an epic novel.
Last but not the least, pardon me for invoking CLR James again. "I haven't the slightest doubt that the clash of race, caste and class did not retard but stimulated West Indian cricket," James once famously wrote. I see no reason why it should not fit in for Bangladesh.
(Note: Bangladesh’s GDP data are from the year 2012)
