Some MAJOR points have to be made about Rajputro's post.
Numbers may be the final telling point, but only after a certain time. The official statistics in cricket take a batsman's average into the all time list only after he has played 20 Test matches. If you play 15 Tests and your average is 102, they wouldn't put you ahead of Don Bradman. So, the number of Tests played should put some of these figures into perspective.
Alok Kapali looks very promising and 33.60 is a good start after three Test Matches. Even the commentators have been impressed by him. But I think its too early to judge him by numbers. If after 15 Tests his average is still over 30, that will say something.
Same thing with Hannan. He is averaging 28.83 at the moment but if he got caught at 5 in the first innings when he was dropped, his average would be 18.83. Not quite as impressive is it?
Rokon got a couple of poor decisions against SL. With better luck, he probably would have scored a lot more.
Ashraful's Test average is largely based on two innings. As Handle pointed out, Pilot has probably had a much bigger impact on our batting, even if his average is much lower.
Once again, after just three Tests, Rafiq's 20.66 means nothing.
What I am trying to say is, when someone has only played a few innings, one big score, one life or a couple of bad decisions can seriously pervert his average. Like I showed, if that one catch had been held, Hannan's average would have been 10 lower than it is.
As for our bowling, Monju has been the only one who has enjoyed an unbroken stint. Masri looks very promising, but after 4 Tests, I wouldn't call anyone 'world class'.
In the same way, I wouldn't think too much of Kapali or Taposh's bowling averages, even if they are in the 150s. They have only played three Test Matches. I can assure you that both Kapali and Baisya are better bowlers than Shanto, I saw them in the SL series. Don't forget, in his first Test Match, Shane Warne took one for a hundred odd.
A world class bowler will average round about 25 and a world class batsman around 40. So, if we really think about it, none of our players are, in Raana bhai's words, 'worth talking about.'
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