Sports is my passion and Bangladesh is my vision. Even from abroad I always follow my dream motherland Bangladesh advancing like a galloping tiger in the world arena of sports. After suffering the usual teething problems, the brilliant new generation has started making Bangladesh proud in the international sports arena. 

I will specially mention about three of the budding genius who given proper care and attention will brighten Bangladesh in sports in the committee of nations in the not-too-distant future. They are Towhid Hridoy the youngster of exceptional talent blossoming as a brilliant batsman, brave tigress Marufa Akhter who has caught the eyes after her brilliant pace bowling against India and young Shekh Morsalin for his brilliance as a match winning goal scoring ability. All three are in their teens and all three have sky as their limits. 

Of the Bangladeshi cricketers in the past, I have special admiration for Aminul Islam Bulbul, another distinguished Bangladeshi proudly bearing the flag of Bangladesh in international cricket. He told me in 2020, “watch out a young boy named Towhid Hridoy. He is going to grow as a brilliant batsman soon for courage, determination, and solid technique. “I follow Bangladesh cricket very intensively. I started following Bangladesh domestic cricket. Knew about Tawhid Hridoy, Pervez Emon, Shamim Patwary of the Bangladesh Under 19 world cup winning team. In 2022 during Bangladesh visit I watched few matches of BPL where Tawhid very consistently against some good bowlers in BPL for his franchise. His effortless way of batting and carefree attitude caught my imagination. He stormed into the national team and delivered. Bangladesh found a solid number 4 or 5 batsman who will serve Bangladesh for a long time. It is too early to compare but this boy bats with the confidence of Pakistani Legend Javed Miandad. Just a few hours back I was witnessing his superlative batting at Sri Lankan T20 franchise. He will grow into a priceless asset of Bangladesh. All by now possibly know about his struggle during his grooming. Hope he will not be a lost case and will fulfill all his early promises.

Now come to the case of Marufa Akhter. Perhaps you have who she runs with the sharpness of a cheetah while delivering her pace balls against opposition. She was instrumental in rocking and shocking mighty Indian eves in the recent T20 and ODI series. Originating from an average Bangladeshi family in northern Bangladesh she was seen working with her father farming the land during the COVID days. The sparks of her talent caught the eyes and she moved to BKSP. Her consistent performance led her replacing Jahanara Alam the established new ball bowler in Bangladesh team. World cricket has seen the emergence of brilliant bowler who almost single-handed rocked India. None less than Swirti Mandna, Indian celebrity admired Marufa wishing her well. She has also achieved brilliant success in SSC examination. Hope that she will continue to shine and be the most potent force in woman’s cricket for Bangladesh. 

Finally, will mention about Sheikh Mursalin, a budding soccer player, skilled goal scorer from my native land Faridpur. We were listening about this boy for a while though for depleting state of Bangladesh football I lost interest of following Bangladesh local football. I heard Bangladesh local football is dominated by average footballers from abroad specially goal scorers. We knew that local talents hardly get opportunities for show casing their talents and stay mostly in the dug out of the top teams. These cause impacts when Bangladesh play international matches. Bangladesh playing at the same tempo with regional countries suffer from lack of goal scorers. Mursalin is a rare exception. In local football he rubbed shoulder to shoulder with top scores in Bangladesh major team. In the recent SAF football he showcased his goal scoring ability. All on a sudden Bangladesh looked all together a different team. After legend Kazi Salahuddin another goal scorer of international talent emerged. It was great that he was given a much-attended reception at Faridpur Stadium. Barrister Sumon is also rocking Bangladesh soccer arena. Hope his endeavor will discover more talents from the grassroot level of Bangladesh like Sheikh Mursalin. Soccer is still the most popular sports of Bangladesh. Emergence of Mursalin like talents evidence that Bangladesh can regenerate interest in soccer planning well and executing properly. 

BDST: 1009 HRS, JULY 31, 2023
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