According to member of the Bangladesh squad, it is Rubel's sheer professionalism that has seen him through the dark phase; pacer's focus is totally on Bangladesh's endeavour to advance further
Rubel Hossain celebrates Bangladesh's win over England last week
Melbourne: From managing to get bail 'in national interest' in a rape case back home on January 11, to the time he evoked national interest by recently guiding Bangladesh to their first ever World Cup quarter-final with a stunning 4-53 off 9.3 overs to dump out England (on March 9) in Adelaide, pacer Rubel Hossain has come a long way.
Rubel Hossain celebrates Bangladesh's win over England last week. Pic/Getty Images
And according to member of the touring Bangladesh World Cup squad, it is Rubel's sheer professionalism that has seen him through the dark phase.
'Good work ethic'
"Rubel has a very good work ethic and does his training just like all the other players. Of course, he is a fast bowler and they train vigorously anyway, so that may have helped him get away from the tension," the source told mid-day on the sidelines of the team's training session at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The 25-year-old pacer joined his national cricket team for their World Cup campaign here only after being granted bail following a three-day arrest in January when his girlfriend Naznin Akter Happy had lodged a complaint of rape against him. His lawyers said then that the bail was in national interest as he was due for national (cricket) duty at the World Cup.
ADVERTISEMENT
Reports claimed that he had promised marriage and later backed out, which is why the 19-year-old actress made the allegation. However, in a sudden turnaround, Happy recently dropped all charges.
Rubel, who has 32 wickets from 22 Tests and 76 wickets from 58 ODIs for Bangladesh, has accumulated seven wickets from five matches so far in the tournament at a respectable average of 34.57. Immediately after the England victory, Happy said that she would not testify against Rubel indicating a possible intervention by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) in a bid to continue their World Cup campaign. The source though said this is far from the truth.
"The BCB has nothing to do with Rubel's case. Even before he got bail, the Board had clearly told him that he would have to deal with his problem on his own. After he was granted bail, the BCB arranged for him to join the team in Australia as he is a contracted player. There were no special instructions to the team management thereafter. Rubel has been treated just like any other player — very normally.
'No one talks about it'
"Each and every member of this team knows about the case, but no one talks about it. All the players are behaving normally with Rubel. They talk, laugh and fool around like any other bunch of teammates. Rubel is going about his training regularly too," the source added.
Bangladesh coach Chandika Harthurusingha could not agree more. "We have only spoken to him on cricketing matters and not about what he was going through. He too has been very professional and switched on the moment he came into the side. Whatever he has achieved is because of his hard work," said Hathurisingha.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
