Cricket Player Profile: Mehrab Hossain Jnr of Bangladesh

Cricket Player Profile: Mehrab Hossain Jnr of Bangladesh

Mehrab Hossain jnr. is a left-handed batsman and slow left-arm orthodox bowler, who is a genuine allrounder. He has played twelve first-class matches, and has one century to his name. Hossain has played 12 U19 ODI matches for Bangladesh, and has taken 16 wickets and scored 213 runs. He played in all of Bangladesh's matches in the tri-nation series with England and Sri Lanka, scoring two half centuries and taking eight wickets at an average of 22.62. Hossain is certain to be in the starting eleven at the start of the U19 World Cup in Sri Lanka.

Cricket Player Profile: Mushfiqur Rahim of Bangladesh

Cricket Player Profile: Mushfiqur Rahim of Bangladesh

A wild-card inclusion for Bangladesh's maiden tour of England in 2005, Mushfiqur Rahim was just 16 when he was selected for that daunting trip - two Tests in May, followed by six ODIs against England and Australia - even though he hadn't been named in the preliminary squad of 20. Mushfiqur was principally selected as an understudy to the ever-present wicketkeeper, Khaled Mashud, but his inclusion was further evidence of Bangladesh's determination to build for a better future. He had done well on an A-team tour of Zimbabwe earlier in 2005, scoring a century in the first Test at Bulawayo, and also enjoyed some success in England the previous year with the Under-19s, making 88 in the second Test at Taunton. He showed more evidence of grit with the full team, with a maiden first-class half-century to soften the pain of defeat against Sussex, followed by a career-best 115 against Northamptonshire. That earned him a call-up - as a batsman - to become the youngest player to appear in a Test match at Lord's. He was one of only three players to reach double figures in a disappointing first innings, but a twisted ankle kept him out of the second Test. After captaining Bangladesh's Under-19s to fifth place in the Youth World Cup in February 2006, he also featured in Bogra's inaugural Test, against Sri Lanka the following month, but could make little of the spin of Murali and Malinga Bandara. He remained on the sidelines for the next few months but was recalled for the final two ODIs against Zimbabwe at home in December. He scored his maiden half-century at Harare in February 2007 and was picked as the first-choice wicketkeeper, ahead of Khaled Mashud, for the World Cup in the West Indies.

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Cricket Player Profile: Mohammad Ashraful of Bangladesh

Player Profile: Mohammad Ashraful of Bangladesh

On September 8, 2001, at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo, Mohammad Ashraful turned a terrible mismatch into a slice of history by becoming the youngest man - or boy - to make a Test century. Bangladesh still crashed to heavy defeat, but "Matin" brought hope and consolation with a sparkling hundred, repeatedly dancing down to hit the Sri Lankan spinners, including Muralitharan, back over their heads ... and on his debut, too. It was the day before his 17th birthday according to some sources, and 63 days after it according to most others: either way, he broke the long-standing record set by Mushtaq Mohammad (17 years 82 days) when he made 101 for Pakistan against India in 1960-61. Inevitably, such a heady early achievement proved hard to live up to, and after a prolonged poor run Ashraful was dropped for England's first visit in October 2003. He returned to the side a better player, but no less flamboyant, as he demonstrated with a glorious unbeaten 158 in defeat against India at Chittagong late in 2004. Still not 21 when Bangladesh made their maiden tour of England the following year, Ashraful confirmed his status as one for the future at Cardiff, when his brilliantly paced century set Bangladesh up for their astonishing victory over Australia in the NatWest Series. But Ashraful didn't fulfil his evident potential on the tour of Sri Lanka that followed, often getting out to loose shots, and made little impact against the Australians early in 2006 either. An extended run of poor form forced the management to drop Ashraful for the final qualifying match of the Champions Trophy against Zimbabwe. He was also omitted from the squad for the home series against Zimbabwe in December but was immediately recalled after slamming 263 for Dhaka Division against Chittagong Division in the domestic four-day competition. He was appointed Bangladesh's captain in June 2007 at the tender age of 22.

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Cricket Player Profile: Schin Tendulkar of India

Cricket Player Profile of Schin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar

Player profile

Full name Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar
Born April 24, 1973, Bombay (now Mumbai), Maharashtra
Current age 35 years 177 days
Major teams India, Asia XI, Mumbai, Mumbai Indians, Yorkshire
Nickname Tendlya, Little Master
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm offbreak, Legbreak googly
Height 5 ft 5 in
Education Sharadashram Vidyamandir School

Sachin Tendulkar has been the most wholesome batsman of his time, and arguably the biggest cricket icon as well. His batting is based on the purest principles: perfect balance, economy of movement, precision in stroke-making, and that intangible quality given only to geniuses, anticipation. If he doesn't have a signature stroke - the upright, back-foot punch comes close - it is because he is equally proficient in each of the full range of orthodox shots (and plenty of improvised ones as well) and can pull them out at will.

Though he has adopted a noticeably conservative approach in the last quarter of his career, there are no apparent weaknesses in Tendulkar's game. He can score all around the wicket, off both front foot and back, and has made runs in all parts of the world in all conditions.

Some of his finest performances have come against Australia, the overwhelmingly dominant team of his era. His century as a 19-year old on a lightning fast pitch at the WACA is considered one of the best innings ever to have been played in Australia. A few years later he received the ultimate compliment from the ultimate batsman when Don Bradman confided to his wife that Tendulkar reminded him of himself.

Blessed with the keenest of cricket minds, and armed with a loathing for losing, Tendulkar set about doing what it took to become one of the best batsmen in the world. This was after he was turned away from a fast-bowling camp in Chennai by Dennis Lillee.

Tendulkar's greatness was established early: he was only 16 when he made his Test debut. He was hit on the mouth by Waqar Younis but continued to bat, in a blood-soaked shirt. His first Test hundred, a match-saving one at Old Trafford, came when he was 17, and he had 16 Test hundreds before he turned 25. In 2000 he became the first batsman to have scored 50 international hundreds, and he currently holds the record for most hundreds in both Tests and ODIs - remarkable, considering he didn't score his first ODI hundred till his 79th match.

Tendulkar's considerable achievements seem greater still when looked at in the light of the burden of expectations he has had to bear from his adoring but somewhat unreasonable followers, who have been prone to regard anything less than a hundred as a failure. The aura may have dimmed, if only slightly, as the years on the international circuit have taken their toll on the body, but Tendulkar remains, by a distance, the most worshipped cricketer in the world.