was at the Adelaide Oval in 2015 that Bangladesh cricket’s rise became undeniable. With two full, straight and swinging deliveries, Rubel Hossain knocked England out of the World Cup, ensuring Bangladesh’s quarter-final berth.
Ahmed Sajjadul Alam Bobby was there, just as he has been throughout Bangladesh’s journey, working in everything from logistics, tournament organising and marketing for the board since 1978. “Watching that game was a privilege,” he says. “Beating England in an away venue meant a lot.”
Bobby, who is now a board director, was born in the nation’s capital, Dhaka, in 1959, when it was still part of East Pakistan. Aged two he attended his first Test, between England and Pakistan in the city. Yet hosting Tests could not conceal East Pakistan’s injurious treatment by West Pakistan; East Pakistan had half Pakistan’s population yet received one-third of government spending. “Two hundred years of colonisation by the British were followed by 25 years of brutal and repressive rule by the Pakistanis,” Bobby says.
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Such inequities manifested themselves in cricket. All Pakistan’s selectors were from the west. East Pakistan teams played only spasmodically in Pakistani first-class cricket because of a lack of funds. Only one East Pakistan player was ever selected for Pakistan.
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