Jabed's Growth Story: His Aim for the National Team

Many cricketers from Sylhet have played for the Bangladesh national team. From the early days of Shafiqul Haque Hira to the current players like Zakir and Zaker, alongside Nasum Ahmed and Tanzim Sakib. At one time, Sylhet's Rajin Saleh was the captain of the national team. Alok Kapali, the first Bangladeshi to achieve a Test hat-trick, is from Sylhet. Enamul Haque Junior, who was a hero in Bangladesh’s first Test victory, is also from Sylhet. The contributions of Sylhet cricketers to Bangladesh cricket are significant. Rahtul Ferdous Javed, a resident of the Bagbari area of Sylhet city, grew up watching these stars of the national team. Inspired by Alok Kapali, Javed has played for all age-based teams in Bangladesh. He has represented the Bangladesh U-19 and U-23 teams and has participated multiple times in the BCB HP team's camp.

While waiting for a chance in the national team, Javed has been playing in domestic cricket and has made a mark in league cricket in England. After excelling in the Yorkshire Premier League, Javed has now been picked by Chattogram Kings in the BPL auction.

Before heading to Khulna to play in the National Cricket League, Javed shared his journey into cricket in Sylhet, discussing his experiences in domestic cricket and the English leagues. He also talked about his future plans regarding cricket.

Javed’s inspiration for dreaming of playing for the national team comes from his friend Nasum Ahmed. They have played together for Sylhet since the U-13 level. Nasum played in the youth World Cup in 2012 and made his debut for the national team in 2021, while Javed is still waiting for his call-up.

The Journey into Cricket

Javed started his cricketing journey in 2007 with Blue Bird School, practicing secretly at home without informing anyone. He was eventually selected for the school cricket team after training for a school cricket competition. When he informed his family, they agreed with the condition, “You can play this time, but you can’t play again.”

However, while playing school cricket, he caught the attention of former Sylhet district team coach Maruf Hasan during his debut match, who was officiating as an umpire. It is said that umpires have the closest view of players and can assess their potential. After the match, he called Javed and invited him to the U-14 district team camp.

Javed went to the Sylhet district team camp without telling his family, and after the camp, he was selected for the Sylhet U-14 team. Although he could not play that year due to exams, he later represented the Sylhet U-15 team. His good performance led to a call-up for the Bangladesh national U-15 team in 2009-2010, where he showcased his talent, leading to his selection for the Bangladesh U-17 team. Javed played for the Bangladesh U-17 team for two years.

Initially, his family was not supportive, but after being selected for the national U-15 team, they gradually accepted his desire to pursue cricket. Older brothers in the neighborhood and many in the Sylhet cricket community helped convince his family.

Javed himself was indecisive about becoming a cricketer. However, after playing for the U-15 team, he realized he had much to contribute to cricket in Bangladesh.

He shares, “As a child, I collected stickers while buying Pepsi, and seeing the pictures of Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik made me fall in love with cricket. My biggest idol in our country is Shakib Al Hasan. I also admire South African David Miller’s batting and Indian Ravindra Jadeja’s bowling. My all-time favorite from Sylhet cricket is Alok Kapali.”

Bangladesh Youth Team

After the U-17 team, he was called up to the Bangladesh U-19 team, which has produced many star cricketers for the national team, including Shakib, Tamim, and Mushfiq. In 2013-14, Javed played against the West Indies in a series for the Bangladesh U-19 team, where he took 11 wickets in 7 matches, with his best bowling figures being 5 wickets for 55 runs. He was the third-highest wicket-taker for Bangladesh in that series, having played 16 matches and taken 18 wickets as a co-captain.

Emerging Asia Cup 2017

After graduating from the youth team, he played for the Bangladesh U-23 team. In 2017, he took 6 wickets in two matches during the Emerging Asia Cup. Due to team combinations, he spent the next matches on the sidelines. In the second match against Nepal, he bowled 7 overs for 45 runs, taking 4 wickets. In the first match of the Emerging Asia Cup against Hong Kong, he took 2 wickets for 26 runs in 8.1 overs.

Domestic Cricket

Javed made his first-class debut in 2015 for the Sylhet division. In first-class cricket, he has played 36 matches, scoring 1,110 runs in 56 innings with an average of 25.22, including 5 fifties and one century, with his unbeaten century being 106*. With the ball, he has taken 82 wickets, achieving five wickets in an innings three times and four wickets twice. His best bowling figures in first-class cricket are 5 wickets for 48 runs, and he has taken 30 catches.

In 2014, Javed made his List A debut for Mohammadan Sporting Club. In List A cricket, he has played 74 matches, taking 87 wickets with the best bowling figures of 4 wickets for 32 runs. However, he hasn’t been able to perform as well in List A batting, scoring only 615 runs in 51 innings. He has taken 33 catches in List A cricket and played twice in the Dhaka Premier League for Prime Doleshwar, and in the last league, he played for Brothers Union.

Playing in the England League

To maintain his focus on cricket, Javed travels to England to play in local leagues when there are no domestic tournaments in Bangladesh. He showcases his cricketing skills and gains experience adapting to foreign conditions.

In the Yorkshire Premier League, Javed excelled with bat and ball. Playing for Fairburn Cricket Club, he scored 674 runs in 20 innings at nearly a 100 strike rate. His primary strength lies in bowling, where he took 42 wickets.

After impressing in the Yorkshire Premier League, Javed returned home to prepare for the National Cricket League. He has not consistently shown his prowess in the national cricket league like he did in the Yorkshire Premier League, which he attributes to not having played many matches consecutively before.

Javed believes that having the opportunity to play consecutive matches helped him perform well in the Yorkshire Premier League. He says, “This has definitely contributed. I believe that as an all-rounder, if you play a primary role, you will have more opportunities to perform. The Yorkshire Premier League provided that opportunity. If you look at my performance in the previous season with Brothers Union, you will see that I was able to contribute to the team because I was assigned a primary role. I performed well whenever I was given that opportunity.”

He adds, “In other years, I might not have been given a primary role and was benched after one or two bad matches. If you are given the main role consistently, you might have a couple of bad matches, but having a consistent role allows for better performance.”

In the last Dhaka Premier Division League, Javed scored 254 runs in 11 matches and took 15 wickets at an economy rate of 4.5, proving his point.

Javed's former teammate Enamul Haque Junior agrees that the chance to play consecutively in the Yorkshire Premier League helped him excel. Having closely observed Javed’s performance, he says, “He got the opportunity to play consecutive matches, which helped him perform well. Playing continuously changes your mindset.”

Javed views the opportunity for Sylhet and Bangladeshi cricketers to play in England as a positive one. He sees it as a chance to adapt to different weather and conditions and to play on pacey and bouncy pitches.

Reflecting on his experience in the Yorkshire Premier League, Javed says, “It was a very good experience. Normally, there are no tournaments in the off-season, so I went to England. I tried to gain as much good experience as possible.”

Javed advises taking advantage of the opportunities to play abroad, saying, “The weather and wicket conditions are different. Playing with various international players will definitely develop your skills. The quality of the game is better since the ECB oversees these leagues.”

With the National Cricket League in mind, Javed went to play in the Yorkshire Premier League for his best preparation because both tournaments are played with Duke balls. He sees playing in England as a great opportunity to improve his batting. He states, “Playing in England provides more chances for batting improvement. The ball swings in English conditions, and on grassy pitches, there is no opportunity for the ball to touch the ground. The swing remains from the first over to the forty-fifth over. Therefore, especially for batting improvement, it’s a great opportunity. During my first time playing in the Durham League, I had six fifty-plus innings.”

Javed's outstanding performance in the Yorkshire Premier League has been positively noted by BCB HP team's batting coach and Sylhet division team's head coach Rajin Saleh. Evaluating Javed's performance, Rajin states, “I have played in similar leagues