Cricket: Ashraful, Bangladesh's boy wonder, falls from grace

It has been a devastating fall from grace for Bangladesh’s Mohammad Ashraful, known as international cricket’s boy wonder and a national sporting hero.

Ashraful, suspended Tuesday by Bangladesh authorities after confessing to match-fixing, was Test cricket‘s youngest ever century-maker.

“I should have not done this injustice to the nation. I feel guilty,” he said in a televised interview, appealing to countrymen to “Please all forgive me, my conduct was improper.”

Ashraful burst onto the international cricket scene just a year after Bangladesh was controversially drafted into the game’s elite Test club, and was seen as the country’s biggest hope when he cracked a century against Sri Lanka at the debut.

That century, against an attack led by the mercurial Muttiah Muralitharan in September 2001, made him an instant star at the age of 16 and earned him a rare record in Test cricket’s nearly 150-year history.

He was catapulted to demigod status at home after steering the nation to a string of stunning victories in one-day international matches, including a shock win against giant Australia in the 2007 ICC World Cup in England.

Fellow sportsmen have hailed him as a batsman of immense talent who has almost every shot in his repertoire. But he has surprised fans by throwing wickets cheaply, wreaking havoc on a career full of promise.

He was made captain after that improbable win in 2007, but two years later he lost that job and a confirmed place in the national team, which suddenly found new stars in the world’s leading all-rounder Shakib al Hasan and batsman Tamim Iqbal.

Experts said he was burnt out by carrying the burden of a country, which was thrown into the big league thanks largely to a shift in cricket’s power to the Indian subcontinent, and became the number one target for the opposite side.

With six Test centuries under his cap, he is still one of Bangladesh’s highest ton-makers, but his averages slipped to the low 20s with even him admitting that he no longer had the hunger to excel at the top level.

The 28-year-old’s career was resurrected in March this year after he was called back into an injury-depleted Bangladesh team and he hammered a brilliant career-best 190, helping the side snatch a draw from Sri Lanka.

When it seemed that Ashraful was finally burying the demons of inconsistency that have long haunted his career, he threw it away when he confessed to International Cricket Council investigators that he was involved in match-fixing in domestic cricket.

Bangladesh media noted wryly Ashraful again threw his wicket cheaply, with reports saying the one million taka ($12,500) cheque he received for fixing one match bounced and he never got the money.