Talent, discipline take Nazmul Shanto up the ladder

And with good reason. In the past two years, the boy has grown, literally and in cricket too. This isn’t Nazmul’s first ICC Under-19 World Cup. He was involved in Dubai in 2014 as well, but only managed 31 runs in four outings back then. Bangladesh had failed to make it out of its group, although it did beat New Zealand Under-19 in the Plate Championship final. So, this is already a better tournament, with Bangladesh formidable in three matches, and looking good to go on.

“He desperately wants it. You can see just in his body language on the field, when’s he fielding, he is in every ball. He wants to be involved. And when he bats, he wants to be the one there at the end to score the runs. He’s a great kid. Very outspoken in team meetings, and very well respected by his teammates. But also, he is in a different class when it comes to batting. From what I’ve seen, I’ve really enjoyed watching him play.”

Law, in fact, believed Nazmul was ready for international cricket. To put that in perspective, Nazmul is so young, he can still play in the next ICC Under-19 World Cup, which would be his third.

“Shanto is having a fantastic run in this tournament as well. He just looks like a proper batsman, he looks like he is ready to play international cricket,” said Law. “He knows he has a long way to go. If he continues his good form in the next three matches, he puts his name up for the international side.”

Nazmul revealed that he had always wanted to play cricket professionally, right from when he first played at the age of ten. He had a pretty routine journey through cricket, coming through the age-group ranks. He has come far: He now receives text messages from Mushfiqur Rahim, who wants him to score big every time.

“Mushfiqur bhai has helped me a lot. We play together in the national league, so he talks to me a lot,” said Nazmul. “Last night, he sent me a text saying congratulations. He told me that I’ve a knack for scoring big, so I should try and score big. In the first match, I scored 73, but Mushfiqur bhai was unhappy. He wanted me to score a century. After Scotland, he was very happy.”

The knowledgeable Bangladesh crowd was happy too. There will be bigger challenges ahead. But for now, their dear Shanto just needs to keep doing what he’s doing.