Ashraful proving a handful

It's been a week of turmoil in sports. Ok, not that dramatic, but at least cricket and F1 have been going through a phase. I decided to do a no show at Indy this time for the US Grand Prix 'cos I really haven't been following this season that closely, no particular reason. Turns out that the seven teams using Michelin tyres decided to follow my lead and not participate in the race too! But jokes aside, what happened there was disgraceful! Get this: the said-seven teams apparently even agreed to race for NO points, just to make sure there was a race on! NO points! And still the FIA refused to agree to add an extra chicane at the offending turn thirteen (which, in case you didn't know, was causing Michelin tyres to blow, for reasons unknown). I think F1 racing has sunk to its lowest yet! This sort of behavior on their part has got to be universally and vocally criticized to get the FIA to change.

Coming to cricket, what's up with Bangladesh, y'all? The worst team in world cricket beats the best, and in some fashion too! I wish I'd followed the match live on cricinfo or some such place, I'd have been blown away by the six hit by watshisname against Jason Gillespie (Ok, his name is Aftab Ahmed, I just looked it up). The last time I had the fortune to 'witness' such a spectacular end was when the Windies imploded to South Africa by giving Charl Langeveldt a last over hat-trick. That was something, but this is way better!

Looking at Bangla's three big matches in England (wins against Worcester and Australia along with today's loss against England), it looks likes Ashraful is turning out to be the key guy! He scored a quickfire 40 against W and that terrific run-a-ball century against the Aussies. Add to that today's 54-ball 92 and you have a batman who is having a super-duper time, definitely a contender for 'Man of the series'. And let's not forget Habibul Bashar who seems to be the Dravid of Bangladesh, keeping his head and guiding his team through the middle overs.

Could this be the start of something special or will it just be a temporary bright spot in the sordid history of Bangladesh cricket? This series should anwer that question!