Raqibul Hasan retire from international cricket

The decision of Raqibul Hasan, Bangladesh's 22-year-old middle-order batsman, to retire from international cricket on the eve of the Test series against England has left both his team-mates and the national selectors bewildered, as the squad sets about refocusing for the first Test in Chittagong in 24 hours' time.

Raqibul informed his team-mates of his decision on the team bus after practice on Wednesday, having sent a letter announcing his retirement to the Bangladesh board that morning. According to Jalal Yunus, the board director, his resignation has not yet been accepted, although neither his coaches, team-mates, nor his parents have appeared able to talk him out of the shock move.

Mushfiqur Rahim, Raqibul's closest friend in the squad, and a former Under-19 team-mate, told reporters at the Bangladesh training session that he had had no inkling of the decision that Raqibul was about to make. While the squad was shocked, they were doing their best to make light of the situation, with the Rajshahi batsman Jahurul Islam, drafted into the squad ahead of Mohammad Ashraful.

"This came as a big surprise for us," Akram Khan, a member of the Bangladesh selection committee, told us. "I talked to him two days ago, and he had just been batting well against the England team. I never thought he'd do a thing like this, but this is not good. He is a young chap and this is a big decision. He should have thought more about it, both for himself and for our country. This is bad for Bangladesh cricket."
Despite cementing his place in the Test squad with a century and a fifty for Bangladesh A in the three-day warm-up against England in Chittagong earlier this week, Raqibul is understood to be angered at his omission from Bangladesh's one-day plans. He was left out of the home ODI series against England that concluded last week, and perhaps more significantly the 30-man preliminary squad for the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean next month, a tournament regarded as a shop window for the riches on offer in the shortest and most lucrative form of the game.

He was omitted from the team during the recent tour of New Zealand, and Cricinfo understands that there was a disagreement between the board and the selectors over his recall for the England Test series. The recommendation from above had been that Raqibul should be dropped along with Mohammad Ashraful, whose form has deserted him in recent months. Regardless of the apparent political manoeuvrings, however, his decision is being widely regarded as rash.

"This sort of thing happens to everybody, it's not only for him," said Akram. "The most important thing is he has to perform. He didn't get a chance in New Zealand, and he wasn't in the one-day squad for this series, but he was in the Test squad. A lot of good players don't get a chance every time. The England captain [Alastair Cook] is also not in the squad for Twenty20 cricket, but he's still a very good player. I can't understand why he's done this."
(news collect from cricinfo.com)

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Tendulkar Makes first double hundred world recored

Tendulkar Makes first double hundred world recored

Tendulkar Makes first double hundred world recored today with south africa.
Saeed Anwar stopped six short 13 years ago.
Charles Coventry didn't seem worthy enough.
Tendulkar was robbed of it twice last year itself.
Finally, the elusive double century is for the master batsman to have,
as he lashed South Africa to all parts of the Roop Singh Stadium in Gwalior on Wednesday.

Tendulkar's 46th one-day hundred was converted into a double with 25 fours and a six,
the boundaries alone making up more than a century in his mammoth yet destructive 147-ball effort.

For the Indian batting genius with over 20 years in international cricket,
records have fallen by the wayside ever since
he took on opening in one-day cricket as Test records continued to break.


For the batsman with most runs in Test and ODI cricket,
nearly most caps in both forms of the game as well and countless other records,
further individual records had thus fvar eluded him.
Brian Lara still boasts of the Test equivalent,
but in the ODI arena,
there's no better bat than Sachin Tendulkar to score a rare double.
He did so into his 21st year in international cricket.

Tendulkar's 175 at Hyderabad last year against Australia could well be his greatest innings ever,
but sometimes the greatest knocks don't give the most satisfaction,
as India lost a close game and then the series.

His double century might not have been
the most attractive on what evidently was a batting paradise,
but the runs were still there for the making and
the champion batsman answered with one of the most clinical assaults in one-day cricket.
One-day cricket has seen its last days just yet.
But if it has or is nearing to it,
Tendulkar's records are almost certain to be never eclipsed.