5 Bangladeshi players who could have played for India had the partition never happened

The world of fantasy is a nice place to be in since there are no boundaries in it. All that we ever wanted, but don’t have, can be ours within the world of dreams. Everyone in this world fantasises something or the other.

A brand new car, a caring partner and a lot more things – some of which I would rather not say here. In my mind, however, there is always this one thought that keeps playing: how would the Indian cricket team look like if the partition never happened?

While it would be an amalgamation of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, I always wonder what a team with India and Bangladeshi players would look like.

Some years ago, not many Bangladeshi players would have gotten into the Indian national cricket team. However, since the Tigers have been rising steadily, here are the 5 Bangladeshi players that could have a place in the Indian team had the division never happened…

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#5 Mohammad Ashraful

We will start off with the most controversial choice in this list. Mohammad Ashraful is now a name drowning in the ocean of obscurity. After being convicted of match-fixing, the former Bangladesh captain has been banned from playing international cricket till 2018.

Since his ban in 2013, Bangladesh have meteorically risen through the ranks and it seems unlikely that Ashraful can make a comeback ever again. However, before all of this, he was a star in the making – the kind of batsman that could single-handedly influence the outcome of a match.

No-one – I repeat, no-one – played the over-the-keeper’s head pull shot better than him. There was so much raw talent in him that with the right grooming, he would have been one of the best batsmen in the game.

Unfortunately for both him and the team, during the time of his rise, the team didn’t really groom the temperament of the players like they do now and he turned out to be just like most kids with talent: taking the gift for granted.

Had he been a part of a unified India, he would have learned to keep his head down from the seniors of the Indian team back then – Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and the likes – and work as hard as possible, which would have made him realise his potential.

#4 Tamim Iqbal

The backbone of Bangladesh’s cricket team

Tamim Iqbal is basically the Ashraful that had the temperament and desire to succeed. Tamim wasn’t always like this, though. Just like Ashraful, the Chittangongian took his talent for granted, something that was once visible in the recklessness while he batted.

However, after being dropped from the team for the 2012 Asia Cup, which prompted his uncle – the great Akram Khan – to resign from his post in the BCB, and then brought back, he became a completely different player. Indeed, it was as though he had woken up from the somnolence of complacency and began taking things more seriously.

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The result? He scored four half centuries in a row in the Asia Cup to help Bangladesh reach the final. His batting average before that incident was 28.84 in ODIs and 38 in Tests. Since that controversy, however, his ODI average has been 44.54 and his Test numbers have also gone up to 41.04.

Safe to say that post Asia Cup 2012, Tamim Iqbal is a different beast altogether – someone who could have challenged Shikhar Dhawan for the opening slot.

#3 Mushfiqur Rahim

Rahim has grown up to be a prominent member of the team

This pick might irk some people given the fact that MS Dhoni is basically indispensable, more so when he was the captain, but Rahim would at least be the backup to the man from Ranchi.

When it comes to natural talent, Rahim can’t compete with the rest on this list. However, there are only a few parallels to the Bangladeshi wicket-keeper batsman in terms of hard-work and dedication. Over the years, he has worked his socks off to improve the flaws in his batting to become one of Bangladesh’s most prominent figures.

Indeed, he is among the consistent players in the team and, like Tamim, improved a lot since Bangladesh’s Asia Cup run in 2012. Prior the tournament, Rahim had an average of 25.47 in ODIs. After that tournament, his average went up to 40.86.

Similarly in Tests, he averaged 29.01 before the Asia Cup in 2012 and 43.53 after the competition. Here’s a fun fact: in the same time period, MS Dhoni averages 40.20 in Tests. Don’t come at me, I am not trying to imply anything here.

#2 Mustafizur Rahman

The boy who took the cricket world by storm

The way he started his career, people thought that he is the next best left-arm pacer to come out of Asia ever since the great Wasim Akram. However, after a flashy start, he seems to have lost the spark that made him one of the most revered bowlers in the world within no time.

Despite that, the talent is there – it is just a matter of grooming it. He might be out of form, but his numbers are still great. In his 22 ODI games, he has taken 44 wickets at an average of 19.79 and an economy of 4.89.

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He has only played 4 Test matches thus far, which isn’t enough to make any remarks. In the T20 circuit, however, he has played in 46 games and picked up 62 wickets at an average of 18.16 and a miserly economy of 6.47 in the process.

India are enjoying a period of fast bowler boom with the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav all picking up form. However, none of them are left-handed pacers – something every team craves for because they provide something very different to the others.

That’s why Zaheer Khan is regarded as a legend in India and that is why Ashish Nehra had a career in the international arena.

#1 Shakib Al Hasan

The best all-rounder in the world

Obviously. Shakib is the only one player in this list who would be a straight starter for the Indian cricket team. Actually, he would be a starter for any team in the world – such is the quality of this man. People might not like his attitude, but the truth is that he is among the very first Bangladeshi players to show that hard work and temperament is just as important as having talent.

It is no coincidence that ever since Shakib came in to the team, the performances of the rest of players also improved. He inspired the rest to work diligently and now the whole team is reaping rewards from it.

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Currently, he is ranked as the number one all-rounder in all three formats of the game. He is the only player to ever achieve this feat and it will be a long time before anyone does the same. It is undoubted that he would be among the first names on the team sheet if Bangladesh and India had a unified cricket team.