Friday 16 March 2007

Bangladesh Dedicates World Cup Mission To Manjural

Bangladesh team received the news of the sad demise of fellow Tiger 'Manjural Islam Rana' at their team hotel at Port of Spain. The team was in shock to hear the loss of a close friend who was very popular among his team mates.

In a team meeting they decided to dedicate their world cup mission to Manjural.

"If we do something good in this World Cup we will dedicate that to (Manjural) Rana," said skipper Habibul Bashar.

He also paid tribute to Manjural’s eternal soul, "It is terribly distressing news and we don’t have words to express our shock and grief. The players are absolutely stunned. Our heart goes out to Rana’s family and may the Almighty grant his soul eternal peace".

Bashar also expressed his grief at the sad demise of Setu who was on the back seat of the same motorbike Rana was riding.

"It is a great loss for our cricket. Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to Setu’s young family," he added.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh have selected rookie opener Tamim Iqbal for tomorrow’s vital clash against India. They have declared a 12 man squad leaving out veteran opener Javed Omer, batsman Rajin Saleh and fast bowler Shahadat Hossain Rajib. The final playing XI will be selected after seeing the wicket tomorrow.

Bangladesh squad

Habibul Bashar (Captain), Shahriar Nafees Ahmed (VC), Tamim Iqbal Khan, Aftab Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Ashraful, Mushfiqur Rahim (WK), Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Mohammed Rafique, Abdur Razzak, Syed Rasel, Tapash Baishya.

© Khondaker Mirazur Rahman

No comments: