Naimur, who? Bangla’s first Test captain

That first Test is still vivid in his mind: ‘‘It was 10th November and there was a lot of passion all across Bangladesh. I had never seen so much excitement acros the whole nation. Naimur, incidentally, was pushed into the helm of affairs mainly because first-choice captain Aminul Islam was going through a lean phase.

‘‘There were phone calls galore. We checked in a day before in the hotel. I met Sourav (Ganguly) and the rest of the Indians. I remember that Sourav kept asking us to ‘keep fighting’. It’s all like a dream now,’’ Naimur says.

But since that bit of history, Bangladesh hasn’t progressed much in world cricket. ‘‘We haven’t gone far. Improvement is coming but there has not been much of it,’’ Naimur says, visibly unhappy. ‘‘When we started there was a lot of hope. I think we have experimented far too much with coaches changing all the time. The system is not quite in place.’’

To place Naimur’s sentiment in perspective: around 40 players have played Tests in this four-year-period and there have been four coaches and three other captains in charge. Dav Whatmore’s current regime, however, gives Naimur hope. He says that things are turning for the better under Whatmore, but the selectors have to ‘‘stick to youngsters and encourage them’’ to move forward.

A regular for Abahani for 11 seasons now, Naimur wants to continue till he enjoys the game. But after that, Naimur wants his eight-month-old son to grow up so that he can tell him about all the ‘‘good times’’. ‘‘And that cerainly includes the captaincy,’’ he signs off as it is time to join his clubmates in a practice session.