Cricketonomics
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Mamun Rashid
The ICC (International Cricket Council) Cricket World Cup 2011 was jointly held in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India. The officials of the ICC and the BCB (Bangladesh Cricket Board) do deserve special thanks for working so hard to make the event a great success. One could not have imagined that Bangladesh would ever be able to host such a gala event. The opening ceremony held on February 17 last at the Bangabandhu National Stadium (BNS) was the most well-organised and colourful opening ceremony in the history of World Cup Cricket. An estimated sum of USD 30 million (BDT 2.1 billion) was spent on the opening ceremony and all the Bangladesh matches including the inauguration was estimated to have taken around little below Taka 5.0 billion. A large of it come from the ICC coffer. I was personally there at the inauguration with my spouse and 11, year old son, who cheered at the top of his office, seeing the Bangladesh captain, Sakib Al Hasan. Bangladesh can hold its head high to be able to put on a show like this. This is truly an event we can be proud of in years to come. Though some of the stalwarts wanted to bring in Singer Sakira to perform at the inagural, I don't have regrets. Our performers along with those from India and Sri Lanka put up a fantastic show. This event gave Bangladesh an exposure to the outside world through the international broadcasting channels ESPN, Star Sports and Star Cricket and also through domestic channels of other countries. People, who never heard of us, now recognize us. This is a big achievement for us. It brought together the whole fraternity of cricket lovers from all over the world. Those who did not like cricket also participated in the celebration whole-heartedly. I am told beautician Kaneez Almas Khan had the `fastest beautification parade' in coloring all the people attending the cultural event from home and abroad within the shortest span of time. From the economic perspective, this was a big break for us. The hotel business surely went up this season. And it is likely to be increasing in the years to come, as foreigners are now aware of our existence and culture. The "School of Life - Beautiful Bangladesh" commercial by the Ministry of Tourism, Bangladesh, if not already, is likely to attract the attention of the people from home and abroad. We were devastated on the days, when Bangladesh put up a very bad show with West Indies and South Africa and again we were delighted to the extreme to see Bangladesh performance against England and against the Netherlands. My childhood buddy, Mizan was almost having a stroke watching the last minute sensation in Bangladesh-England match. Our boys are obviusly growing up. I personally was very intrigued by the theme song`jitbe ebar jitbe cricket' (Cricket and cricket will win this time), focusing on fratenity and togetherness being encouraged by sports and more importantly cricket. My colleague Kanti Kumar's 6 years old son memorized this in full strength and recited this througout the tournament. Cricket and specially the ICC cricket in Bangladesh brought us all together and focused on country's achievement. Many housewives wanted to know what the words like `power play' meant. So is it worth investing in Bangladesh cricket? Yes it is. However, we have to train our players and look after their welfare. Most importantly drill them well, let them continuously face the tough, tall and well built competition to come up the curve. We have to keep on searching for the bright talents; that will add value to our team. The Bangladesh Krira Shikhha Protishthan (BKSP) along with the BCB has to chalk out strategies to improve our team. With proper course of action, I am sure one day - "Jitbei Bangladesh" (Bangladesh will win). We also have to make due investments in this regard. Nobody would buy you free lunch in this world, especially in the world of cricket which has become a billion dollar business now. (Mamun Rashid is a banker and economic analyst. He can be reached at: e-mail : mamun1960@gmail.com)
The ICC (International Cricket Council) Cricket World Cup 2011 was jointly held in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India. The officials of the ICC and the BCB (Bangladesh Cricket Board) do deserve special thanks for working so hard to make the event a great success. One could not have imagined that Bangladesh would ever be able to host such a gala event. The opening ceremony held on February 17 last at the Bangabandhu National Stadium (BNS) was the most well-organised and colourful opening ceremony in the history of World Cup Cricket. An estimated sum of USD 30 million (BDT 2.1 billion) was spent on the opening ceremony and all the Bangladesh matches including the inauguration was estimated to have taken around little below Taka 5.0 billion. A large of it come from the ICC coffer. I was personally there at the inauguration with my spouse and 11, year old son, who cheered at the top of his office, seeing the Bangladesh captain, Sakib Al Hasan. Bangladesh can hold its head high to be able to put on a show like this. This is truly an event we can be proud of in years to come. Though some of the stalwarts wanted to bring in Singer Sakira to perform at the inagural, I don't have regrets. Our performers along with those from India and Sri Lanka put up a fantastic show. This event gave Bangladesh an exposure to the outside world through the international broadcasting channels ESPN, Star Sports and Star Cricket and also through domestic channels of other countries. People, who never heard of us, now recognize us. This is a big achievement for us. It brought together the whole fraternity of cricket lovers from all over the world. Those who did not like cricket also participated in the celebration whole-heartedly. I am told beautician Kaneez Almas Khan had the `fastest beautification parade' in coloring all the people attending the cultural event from home and abroad within the shortest span of time. From the economic perspective, this was a big break for us. The hotel business surely went up this season. And it is likely to be increasing in the years to come, as foreigners are now aware of our existence and culture. The "School of Life - Beautiful Bangladesh" commercial by the Ministry of Tourism, Bangladesh, if not already, is likely to attract the attention of the people from home and abroad. We were devastated on the days, when Bangladesh put up a very bad show with West Indies and South Africa and again we were delighted to the extreme to see Bangladesh performance against England and against the Netherlands. My childhood buddy, Mizan was almost having a stroke watching the last minute sensation in Bangladesh-England match. Our boys are obviusly growing up. I personally was very intrigued by the theme song`jitbe ebar jitbe cricket' (Cricket and cricket will win this time), focusing on fratenity and togetherness being encouraged by sports and more importantly cricket. My colleague Kanti Kumar's 6 years old son memorized this in full strength and recited this througout the tournament. Cricket and specially the ICC cricket in Bangladesh brought us all together and focused on country's achievement. Many housewives wanted to know what the words like `power play' meant. So is it worth investing in Bangladesh cricket? Yes it is. However, we have to train our players and look after their welfare. Most importantly drill them well, let them continuously face the tough, tall and well built competition to come up the curve. We have to keep on searching for the bright talents; that will add value to our team. The Bangladesh Krira Shikhha Protishthan (BKSP) along with the BCB has to chalk out strategies to improve our team. With proper course of action, I am sure one day - "Jitbei Bangladesh" (Bangladesh will win). We also have to make due investments in this regard. Nobody would buy you free lunch in this world, especially in the world of cricket which has become a billion dollar business now. (Mamun Rashid is a banker and economic analyst. He can be reached at: e-mail : mamun1960@gmail.com)