‘Youngsters played fearless cricket’

From Shoriful Islam's pace, bounce and swing with the new ball and his effective yorkers with the old one that left batsmen rooted to the ground at the death to Parvez Hossain Emon's audacity to smash the fastest T20 hundred by a Bangladeshi to help chase down a 221-run total to Shamim Hossain's breathtaking fielding, the recently concluded Bangabandhu T20 Cup showed the youngsters' prowess throughout.

The likes of Akbar Ali, Shoriful, Rakibul Hasan, Parvez and Shamim had already conquered age-level cricket by lifting the Under-19 World Cup trophy after beating India earlier this year. But usually, concerns cloud the period when they make the transition from age-level to the international level as many in the past have faded at this stage after showing glimpses at the age-level.

After a few four-day practice matches and the three-team President's Cup in October, proper competitive cricket returned to the country through the Bangabandhu T20 Cup, which concluded on Friday. And the performances of the World Cup-winning Under-19 batch in a proper competitive set-up for the first time since their age-level triumph could help brush away some of those usual concerns.

"I am impressed that they played well at crucial moments under pressure. This was proper competitive cricket after two four-dayers and a three-team tournament earlier. We wanted to see how they reacted under pressure. It will be similar to the circumstances they will be facing at the international stage. And they looked very good. This batch is really promising and they lend us the hope that we will get some very good cricketers," Bangladesh selector Habibul Bashar said when asked to evaluate the Under-19 players' performances, adding: "the characteristics of a player can be best judged when under duress".

Parvez Hossain's maiden T20 century -- a 42-ball 100, the fastest T20 century by a Bangladeshi -- that helped Fortune Barishal thrash Minister Group Rajshahi by eight wickets in a must-win encounter could be the most notable example of when a player showed his true character and came through for the team.

While Parvez broke out of his shell through some power hitting in that particular game, left-arm pacer Shoriful proved to be the perfect match with ace left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman in the Chattogram squad. Shoriful's 16 scalps from 10 matches speak volumes of his consistency with the ball.

Promising left-arm spinner Rakibul's ability to turn the ball and return miserly figures or Shamim's diving efforts on the field to save crucial runs and those mid-air flicks from beyond the boundary before complete stunning catches have all been the best takeaways from a tournament which also involved national stalwarts.

And that's exactly what Bashar reiterated.

"The way I would describe this tournament in a sentence is that it was the youngsters who stepped up as all three of the centuries came from youngsters. Shoriful Islam showed lot of promise. Left-arm spinner Rakibul [Hasan] looked decent. And that the youngsters performed in such a tournament is what is the biggest takeaway for us from this tournament. They have played fearless cricket which is exactly what I want to see in players," said an elated former Bangladesh skipper.