Elias Sunny - Sunnier debuts are hard to come by - Opinion
In many ways, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747’s Elias Sunny has made history. He is the first player in the history of the game to gain two man of the match awards in two different formats of the game. A 6 for 94 against the West Indies at Chittagong in 2011 was almost a match
winning performance, and in the recent T20 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751, Sunny managed to come up with something truly special once again - getting 5 wickets for just 13 runs. As a typical modern day cricketer, Elias Sunny has proved his talent.
Yet Sunny is involved in a sport where debuts can be deceptive. One can think of many examples where cricketers went off to amazing starts and followed them up with quite a few lows. Yasir Hameed’s reputation as the most technically solid batsman of the
younger lot materialized with some heroic performances for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in 2003-04. Yet he failed to live up to expectations and follow those feats, he was not even in contention to retain a spot for the Pakistan team till 2007. Converting a good start for a young
player into something substantive is thus Sunny’s real challenge. It is different for players who have a rough start and then have purple patches later on.
Elias Sunny deserves all the praise for a number of reasons though. After all a dream debut is what many cricketers yearn for. A mishap with the ball or an unfortunate dismissal down the leg side can be devastating for someone who wants to make his mark
at the highest level. Yet history has shown that a few technical mishaps with the bat or ball by a rookie might become catalysts for sensational performances later on.
Players such as Shane Bond come to mind, where his reputation for being the best fast bowler since Richard Hadlee came after a disastrous debut. The 2001 Hobart Test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 saw Bond being peppered all around the Bellerive Oval. Yet that performance
helped the speedster reassess his game and perform well again. That slight drawback enabled him to become one of the most feared bowlers in his short career.
Other names include http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Marvan-Samson-Atapattu-c74969. The slow start to their careers lead to both batsmen pulling up their sleeves and delivering when it really mattered.
The result was a series of centuries that littered their CVs.
Cricket can be considered a game of perseverance. It would not be fair to lay claim to the fact that a few failures would not help in understanding one’s game to perfection. Had it not been for initial failures, Australian star http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MEK-Hussey-c1942 would not have
made the Australian XI after he failed to tackle deliveries pitched on that corridor of uncertainty in 2005. In contrast, the likes of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Ashraful-c76740, had sparkling debuts but failed to deliver on consistent basis throughout
their careers.
The trouble for Bangladesh however, is that they cannot afford to have players who blow hot and cold. Sunny’s inclusion in the team heavily relies upon his ability to consistently make those match winning performances materialize on the field to rise in
the ranks. For a side such as Bangladesh, which has had a wealth of talent yet very little experience, the team needs consistent performers such as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tamim-Iqbal-c2640 for that matter, which is what Sunny should look forward to emulating.
Discrediting Sunny however, would not be the right call of the day. After all getting six wickets on debut against the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 at home is an achievement in itself. The test for him would be to prove to the world, that the old adage of debuts being deceptive
is a misnomer.
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