Mohammad Ashraful

He remains one of the most frustrating cricketers. He makes Bangladesh fans tear their hair out because his achievements do no justice to his immense talent. He had been their first truly world class player and the fact that he was so young when he first shot to fame made it even more difficult for the public to digest. They felt that he was their answer to Sachin Tendulkar. Such early praise did him no good though.

He had announced his arrival with a majestic century at the tender age of seventeen against the likes of Muralitharan. He had become the youngest player ever to score a Test ton. So saying that the expectations were huge would be a gross understatement.

However he, like many others before him, lost his way and form after the initial success. He was dropped in 2003 after a string of poor performances. He made a comeback in 2004 and continued to awe everyone. This time made 158 in a Test at Chittagong against India. It earned him high praise and Sourav Ganguly called it one of the best knocks he had ever seen. This was followed up by another ton, this time against World Champions Australia, in an ODI. Bangladesh handed them a shock defeat in Cardiff and Ashraful was the star once more.

Form deserted the talented Ashraful once again and he was dropped for a while in 2006. He came back strongly though and scored a ton against the Sri Lankans. He was soon appointed as the captain across all formats for Bangladesh in 2007. It was a huge responsibility for someone who was just 22. Ashraful, started well though, scoring a hundred against Sri Lanka in his first match as captain. It was all downhill after that. Bangladesh failed to make any progress under his leadership and his personal form dipped considerably. He was finally relieved off the captaincy duties in 2009 so that he could concentrate on his batting. It has not resulted in much of a change though as Ashraful continues to flatter to deceive. A batting average of 22 and 23 in Tests and ODIs is not what is expected from someone who was widely regarded as Bangladesh's most talented batsman. With age on his side a lot of fans fervently wish that he changes his fortunes around and does so quickly.

Ashraful was involved in spot fixing controversy in 2013, which he admitted to have done in the Bangladesh Premier League. He was allegedly paid around $12,800 to lose a match against Chittagong Kings in the second edition of BPL. However, the cheque which was given later bounced. He was also involved in another match 10 days later against Barisal Burners. The BCB reacted immediately and suspended him from all forms of the game, until ICC's Anti-Corruption submits its report on the investigation.

Fact: He got the highest Test score by a Bangladeshi cricketer in the match against Sri Lanka in March 2013. However, the record was beaten on the same day by his skipper Mushfiqur Rahim who went past Ashraful's 190 to get a double hundred.

By Ganesh ChandrasekaranAs of April 2014