Dhaka’s moment

On a grim day for the region as the tsunami terror struck, the one spark came from the least expected quarter: Bangabandhu Stadium in Dhaka, where the hosts beat India in a thrilling cricket encounter. While Indian fans spent the evening moping, the neutrals celebrated a win which, while it wouldn’t change anything in the long run, followed sport’s basic precept which dictates that the team that plays better should win. And, on Sunday, Bangladesh simply had more hunger for a win.

This was not, however, a win out of the blue. TV only shown us, as the run-up to Sunday’s story, Bangladesh floundering at the highest levels. It hasn’t shown the genuine desire among administrators to change the game, the groundswell of support among ordinary players and members of the public for a sport India seems to take for granted. Indeed, beyond the boundary, cricket here has been making far greater strides than its more accomplished neighbour. To compensate for a limited talent pool, the Bangladesh Cricket Board has chosen to focus on developing the game from the grassroots upwards. In doing so, they’ve wisely adopted the Australian model — professional administration backing professional coaching — rather than the Indian method. A global tender was floated to hire CEO Macky Dudhia, whose initial decisions included dividing the game for administrative purposes into broad professional and amateur categories, both handled by qualified people. Zimbabwe-born Dudhia’s catchphrase offers an insight: ‘‘High-performance is a sprint, development is a marathon’’. The focus is on both. He’s brought in respected Aussie pros as high-performance manager who will do for the domestic players what Dav Whatmore is doing with the national side.

Some other steps are less directly associated with the game but reveal the professionalism in thought: a media manager (a Canada-returned expat), their own permanent HQ in uptown Dhaka, new stadiums across the country. Much of this has come about with the help of Jagmohan Dalmiya, criticised for giving Bangladesh Test status. He would have been smiling, if secretly, over Sunday’s game. He will be smiling more openly on Monday as he watches the Indian team react to that defeat. Bangladesh goes back to business as usual but they now have a result to back up the resolve.