Sohag Gazi rewrites cricketing history

Neil Ray By his own admission Sohag Gazi made it explicit that it would take sometime before his momentous achievements sink in. This is quite a frank admission by the Bangladeshi all-rounder because no other cricketer in the 136-year history of Test Cricket has ever done what the 22-year-old has accomplished on the last day of the first Test against New Zealand at Chittagong. His undefeated ton of 101 complemented by a tat-trick has given him the rare opportunity to set up a club of his own, which all-rounders the world over have dreamed of but could not quite achieve. Legendary all-rounders like Sir Garfield Sobers, Richie Benaud, Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Kapil Dev and Richard Hadlee have to their credit monumental achievements but yet a century and a hat-trick in the same Test remained elusive to them all. On yet another count, Sohag's feat is only the second in the cricketing history of Bangladesh. He is the second man to have earned a hat-trick in a Test match after Alok Kapali. He also becomes the third all-rounder, after team-mate Shakib Al Hasan and Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Aswin, to have scored a century and take six wickets in a Test match in this decade. Playing only in his seventh Test match, Sohag secures his debut in the national team by virtue of his right-arm off-break bowling. Indeed, his bowling has been his strength and he is known more as a bowler than a batsman. But the all-rounder in him has been looking for a big occasion to demonstrate his batting skill as well. In his quest for success in both batting and bowling, the young man from Patuakhali has now rewritten cricketing history. He had been a toast of the team when he scored the century that helped his team's total to overtake the New Zealand's score. Any run-of-the-mill player would have felt complacent but driven by a burning desire to do well for his country, this highly competitive youth came up with a magic spell of off-spin bowling that earned him a hat-trick. Thus cricketing history was made at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong. Jacques Kallis of South Africa, a great all-rounder still playing cricket, once came close to achieving this feat but for a single ball. His 3rd and 4th balls of an over got him two wickets of an earlier Bangladesh team but his fifth ball produced no wicket although the last ball had got him a wicket. Kallis had scored 139 in that match against Bangladesh. So the uncertain game of cricket has waited long 156 years for the special moment when a cricketer from Bangladesh would define cricketing achievement in completely new light. Now others with all-round ability will set their sight on the exclusive bench-mark set by Sohag. Let it not be forgotten that another young cricketer of Bangladesh produced a sterling knock of 181 runs in the same Test. That too is a great feat but Sohag has been the founder of a club where who knows how long he will have to wait for another member! As a cricketer he will ever be remembered for what he has already done. But a man of his talent will do justice if only he sets milestone after milestone in a long career. He has the potential to do so. Let the cricket board here create the right ambience for nurturing young talents so that they can earn cricketing glory for the country. Mominul Haque and Sohag Gazi have shown what they are capable of, now the cricket board must put its acts together.