Jammu, Oct. 23 -- "Your inner child has come out," Monty Desai, former Rajasthan Royals coach and now head coach of Atlanta Fire told Shakib Al Hasan in the team huddle after Fire lifted their first-ever Minor League Cricket (MiLC) title earlier this month. It was a striking observation. Shakib is typically all business, fiercely competitive, and known for wearing a permanent game face. But in America, around his Atlanta Fire teammates, there were glimpses of a lighter Shakib, one far from his public image as Bangladesh's hard-edged cricketing superstar. "He's always laughing!" said Fire batsman Sagar Patel. "He's like a kid. It looked like he enjoyed playing with us.

He wasn't just playing for the sake of playing. He was playing because...