Farhad Hossain, a domestic giant who scored more than 9,000 runs in first-class cricket, has recently retired from the format. The 37-year-old never got the chance to play for the national team despite having scored a heft of runs. Speaking to 抖阴精品鈥檚 Saifullah Bin Anowar, he talked about his retirement, Bangladesh鈥檚 domestic cricket, and obviously about not getting the chance to represent his country at the highest level.
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抖阴精品: How鈥檚 the feeling right now, as you called it a day?听
Farhad Hossain: It鈥檚 hard to describe how I feel right now. I cannot believe that I鈥檝e retired from first-class cricket, which I played for almost 20 years, which was my favourite format. I feel sad. I have retired from the field. Everyone was there 鈥� from my family to my team-mates. Everyone was sad.听
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NA: What does it mean to you to play for Rajshahi? And how鈥檚 the team right now? They are not doing very well recently.听
Farhad: If only one could see the feeling! To represent Rajshahi, to be the chosen ones among so many players, it鈥檚 hard to put into words. I feel proud that I was born here and played for this team.听
We鈥檝e got a good bunch of players鈥攐ld and new. Maybe we鈥檇 need some time to rebuild.
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NA: If you鈥檙e to differentiate between the old time and now, how would you do that?听
Farhad: I think the NCL was better back then. Maybe because Rajshahi was a champion team, I enjoyed it more. But time changes. See, cricket is a game of individuals. I made my debut in 2004-05. There are a lot of differences now.听
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NA: How will you describe the overall domestic cricket in Bangladesh right now?听
Farhad: I think the quality of domestic cricket has improved. From the facilities to balls鈥攅verything. But I still think that there is some room for improvement. Like the wickets. The wickets in Bogura, Rajshahi鈥攖hose are true wickets. We need more wickets like that. The board is also trying. It depends on a lot of things.听
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NA: Now the obvious question...
Farhad: Oh my god (laughs).听
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NA: Yes. To not get the chance of playing for the national team, despite scoring so many runs. What do you think the reason behind this, and how do you see that?听
Farhad: Of course it hurts, but I don鈥檛 hold any grudges. But still emotionally, it hurts. Every professional cricketer wants to play in the national team. I also performed at that time. But I didn鈥檛 ponder over why I didn鈥檛 get the call. But my job was to play good cricket, and that I did. Then I thought, maybe it was all luck. Maybe Allah didn鈥檛 want me to play for the national team. But at the end of the day, I鈥檓 happy. The prestige he has given me, I鈥檓 thankful for that.听
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NA: There is a pattern. Those who are the top run-getters in first-class cricket in Bangladesh, no one has had a long Test career. What鈥檚 your take on that?听
Farhad: I don鈥檛 know the clear answer. But if you take the example of Marshall Ayub, He is one of my closest friends. I鈥檝e played with him since our age-level cricket days. I think he鈥檚 a brand like Shakib Al Hasan. If you see his career, he wasn鈥檛 given enough chances. You can鈥檛 judge a player by only three matches. He even scored 43 runs in the second innings against New Zealand. If he had been given more chances, we could鈥檝e got a fantastic Test batter.听
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NA: What鈥檚 your future plan?听
Farhad: I will continue to play the white ball cricket. After that, I will definitely go into coaching. I want to be a specialist batting coach.
