Guwahati: Around 1,500 boys and girls, including 100 from the home state are expected to take part in the All India U-19 Junior Ranking badminton championship that starts at the DTRP Indoor Stadium in the city from Wednesday.

Assam Badminton Association (ABA) secretary Omar Rashid informed that the competition will be held in singles, doubles and mixed doubles categories.

Haryana boys Manraj Singh and Gagan are the top seeds for the boys’ singles event, while local boy Tonmoy Bikash Boruah is the No.12 seed. Among the girls, Haryana’s Unnati Hooda and Anmol Kharb are the top-seeded players in singles.

Karnataka’s Nicholas Nathan Raj and Tushar Suveer are the No.1 seeds in boys’ doubles, while the Tamil Nadu pair of Shreya Balaji and Srinidhi N top the seeds in the girls’ doubles category. In mixed doubles, the Tamil Nadu pair of Arulmurugan R and Srinidhi N is the top-seeded pair.

The competition is crucial for the participating players as probables for the national camp for the forthcoming Asian Junior Badminton Championship will be selected from the tournament.

The Asian Junior Badminton Championship is scheduled to be held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia from July 7-16.

According to the Badminton Association of India (BAI), the top-8 players from both boys’ and girls’ singles events will be invited for the selection trials to be conducted in the national capital from June 4-7.

The top-4 pairs from each of the pair events, namely boys’ doubles, girls’ doubles and mixed doubles in the competition will also get a chance to take part in the selection trials in New Delhi.

The competition will start with the qualifying round matches across all categories for the first four days (May 10 – 13), before the main draw contests begin on May 14. The quarter-finals and semi-finals are scheduled for May 16 while the finals of all categories will be played on May 17.

The matches will begin at 9 am each day while the timings for the final will be decided once the tournament progresses.

Over the years, most age-group competitions have been marred by controversies, the more prominent being the menace of age fudging. Armed with fake documents and thick skin, there have been numerous cases of players competing in younger age groups to get ahead by unfair means and do injustice to deserving candidates.

In 2022, multiple cases of age fraud emerged during the All India Sub-Junior Under-13 ranking tournaments in Hyderabad, and later in Mohali, leading to many aggrieved parents protesting against the participation of over-aged players, and demanding a probe into the suspected players’ claims.

The parents have been dashing off letters to the Badminton Association of India (BAI), a few of which have also been shared with the media.

Most recently in February 2023, the BAI disqualified as many as eight shuttlers from participating in the All India Sub Junior Ranking badminton tournament in Jaipur, after the Badminton Parents group, called Swachh Badminton India (SBI) complained against the eight players, who were found manipulating their age qualification.

If everything goes well, then the end of the Bangladesh innings is supposed to be seen by 1,200 spectators at the Sher Bangla National Stadium. But Bangladesh was all out long before that. New Zealand's innings started then.

Even if the eyes are on the match, the Facebook page of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, which was on everyone's mind, can't be said anymore. A lot of speculation is about to end then. Bangladesh's World Cup team was supposed to be announced! But what BCB did then can be called 'anti-climax'. The announcement came on that Facebook page, not at 5.45 as previously announced, the team will be announced after the ongoing Bangladesh- New Zealand match. The ongoing speculation was prolonged a little more.

All the speculation started in the previous evening. According to media reports, Captain Shakib Al Hasan is uncomfortable with the team. If necessary, he wanted to give up the captaincy of the World Cup. After that, the meeting between Coach Chandika Hathurusinghe and captain Shakib at the residence of board president Nazmul Hasan Papon added fuel to the fire.

After that discussion, now the news is that Bangladesh is going to the World Cup without Tamim Iqbal. A BCB source confirmed this to Barta24. Who will join the team instead will be known after the announcement of the team.

Meanwhile, before Tamim's absence from the team was officially announced, another incident happened in the team. Team manager Nafees Iqbal also left the team, just as the team was playing a match against New Zealand.

Ish Sodhi undoubtedly, the Bangladesh-New Zealand second ODI is the most talked about name. He scored 35 valuable runs with the bat. The big highlight of the New Zealand innings was Hasan Mahmood's Mankaded and Liton Das's exemplification of the 'Spirit of Cricket' bringing him back to the crease.

Sodhi didn't stop there. He brought himself to the center of discussion with the ball. The career-best bowler crushed Bangladesh's batting lineup almost single-handedly. Bangladesh lost by 86 runs in the second ODI of the three-match series against New Zealand at the home of cricket in Mirpur. As the first match was abandoned, the third and final ODI next Tuesday (September 26) is now a battle for Bangladesh to save the series.

Kiwi captain Lockie Ferguson won the toss and elected to bat on Saturday (September 23). New Zealand was in some danger after finding 3 wickets in 36 runs. However, Henry Nicholls (49) and Tom Blundell (68) handled the initial shock by batting responsibly for the fourth wicket. However, the tourists were not completely safe. When Cole McConchie, the last recognized batsman in the XI, returned for 187 runs, New Zealand had not capitalized on the fight.

However, at the end, due to the tenacity of the tail ender batters, New Zealand got a fighting capital of 254 runs. Ish Sodhi led the tail-enders' defense with the bat. He played an important innings of 35 runs.

But Sodhi's innings could have ended in 17 individual runs, if Bangladesh captain Liton Das had not become the embodiment of 'Spirit of Cricket'!

His main job of spreading light with the bat is bowling or why stay behind! Ten years later, Sodhi bowled a career-best ODI against the country that started his journey in international cricket. After bowling 10 overs, he took 6 wickets for 39 runs.

On the day of Sodhi's bowling excellence, Bangladesh's batting has once again lost its bones. Apart from the two seniors Tamim Iqbal (44) and Mahmudullah (49) who returned to the team after a long time, only Nasum Ahmed (21) of the tail row has reached the quota of 20. Soumya Sarkar returned to the team after two and a half years before opening the run book.

Bangladesh were all out for 168 runs in just 41.1 overs due to batting failure. Bangladesh must win the last match to save the series.

Bangladesh Cricket Board has announced the squad for the ODI series against New Zealand. Skipper Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mehdi Hasan Miraj, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmood and Shariful Islam have been rested as expected. In other words, regular XI cricketers will be rested in this series before the World Cup. In-form Nazmul Hossain Shanto is not in this series due to injury. Liton Das is leading the team.

Mahmudullah Riyad returned to the team after more than six months. Regular opener Tamim Iqbal returned to the team after recovering from injury. Soumya Sarkar got a place in the ODI squad after three and a half years. Also, two wicketkeeper-batters Nurul Hasan Sohan and Zakir Hasan have returned to the ODI team. Pacer Syed Khaled Ahmed, who is in the preliminary squad of the World Cup, has received a call. Leg spinner Rishad Hossain has come to the ODI team for the first time.

 Afif Hossain Dhruba, Shamim Patwari and Mohammad Naeem Sheikh have been dropped from the Asia Cup squad. It is more likely that they will not be in the World Cup squad.

There is a rumor in the cricket village that Soumya Sarkar and Sheikh Mahedi Hasan can board the plane for the World Cup. Along with this, Tanjid Tamim, who entered international cricket with the Asia Cup, is also likely to be in the fifteen men squad of the World Cup.

 Bangladesh has announced the squad for the first two ODIs of the series against New Zealand. Tamim Iqbal has returned to the team after a long break. Apart from this, Mahmudullah and Soumya Sarkar also got a chance in the first two ODI teams.

Regular captain Shakib Al Hasan has been rested in this home series before the World Cup. ODI vice-captain Liton Das will lead the side against the Kiwis in his place.

 Apart from Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mehdi Hasan Miraj, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmood and Shariful Islam are not in the New Zealand series squad. The selectors have decided to rest all of them in this series.

As many of the regular faces of the ODI team are resting, the fortunes of several people who were left out of the team have returned. This list includes experienced Mahmudullah Riyad, Soumya Sarkar, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Zakir Hasan, Rishad Hossain and Khaled Ahmed.

Bangladesh team for the first two ODIs

Liton Das (Captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Enamul Haque, Tawhid Hriday, Mahmudullah, Nurul Hasan, Mehdi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Mostafizur Rahman, Tanzim Hasan, Tanjid Hasan, Zakir Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Khaled Ahmed.