Night fell in Bangladesh with hope. The country’s cricket team, despite their exhibition of outdated cricket in the Super Eight, had the chance to book a place in the final four of the format’s global showcase.
Then the bowlers did their job quite well, restricting Afghanistan to 115. As Australia had lost their game to India, the Tigers needed to chase the total down within 12.1 overs to reach the semi-finals on net run rate. 121 runs in 12.4 overs would have done it too.
The fans – swinging like a pendulum in between hope and hopelessness – waited for the Bangladesh batters to take a shot at glory. They could/did not.
The inevitable – they getting knocked out – happened but the lack of effort from Bangladesh drew criticism from every place, including the commentators.
First, though, comes how the Bangladesh batting unfolded.
Liton Das, who ended up staying unbeaten on 54 off 49 balls and ran out of partners one after another, took 13 off the first over bowled by Naveen-ul-Haq.
Tanzid Hasan Tamim continued on his lean patch as he fell for a duck, and despite Soumya Sarkar, who is better against pace than spin, being in the XI, Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto came to bat at three.
He scored a run-a-ball five before falling to Naveen, and with Towhid Hridoy, Bangladesh’s best batter in the tournament, on the bench, Shakib Al Hasan walked out and was gone for a golden duck.
While Liton tried to keep up the ante, Soumya, who had finally arrived at the crease, faced a negative matchup against Mohammad Nabi and slowed down before falling to Rashid Khan.
Towhid, finally coming at six, had no other way but to attack. So, he did. He was dropped, got a four off an edge, and another off a sweep before falling to Rashid, but the intent was clear that he was going for that 12.1 over chase.
Despite Towhid’s wicket, Liton hit Rashid for two fours to keep Bangladesh’s chances alive with 43 required off 19 balls, which Mahmudullah refused to keep up in the next over against Noor Ahmad as he took just four runs from the next over, hitting a solitary boundary and even blocking a couple of deliveries.
He then lost his wicket trying to slog Rashid, but by then, he had lost Bangladesh’s chances.
After the game, Bangladesh skipper Shanto tried to explain that their goal was to go hard early on but then just play for a win once wickets fell.
‘The plan was that we would try to score in the first six overs. If we start well and we don’t lose the early wickets, then we will take the chance. But when we lost three early wickets, our plan was different. Our plan was how we could win the match then,’ he said.
The question, though, is what would Bangladesh achieve if they won the game after the 13th over, as that would mean exactly the same thing they will be doing now – returning home.
And if the goal was to go hard in the powerplay, why were Soumya and Towhid sent in to bat after Shanto and Shakib despite both of them having higher strike rates and a batter reputation as big hitters?
Shanto cited putting in a left-right combination to deal with Afghanistan’s multi-dimensional bowling attack as the reason for keeping Soumya and Towhid waiting on the bench. However, that excuse is also faulty, as it doesn’t answer why at least Soumya was not sent ahead of the left-handed duo that was.
Bangladesh’s effort, in the end, only reeked of their unwillingness towards not playing safe, as they only wanted to win and save face rather than going for the bigger goal with a brave effort. Shanto apologised to the fans for their performance, but was the Bangladesh attempt good enough for the fans to accept it?
Because all they did was exhibit their shortcomings in terms of being bold and brave – something Afghanistan have done throughout the tournament – alongside displaying their perennial propensity of putting their hands up even when they don’t need to and their inability to try to go for bigger goals in fear of losing what they have.
And expectedly, that meek plan failed. Even the commentators were questioning the point when Mahmudullah was blocking the balls – what’s the point of winning if not within 12.1 overs?
No one will ever know. Bangladesh did not win. They lost, in style, in their own style.
