‘India players are human beings too and can make mistakes’ – Tigers sniff Asia Cup opportunity

Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto said it was frustrating not to be able to play due to rain after Day 2 of the second Test against India in Kanpur was washed out.  

Bangladesh reached 107-3 on the previous day when only 35 overs were played before bad light and subsequent rain suspended proceedings. 

"It's very frustrating as a player. The match started after so many difficulties and was played for a while as well and then stopped. It is frustrating for players. There is nothing to do," Shanto told reporters on Saturday. 

Shanto was one of the three wickets that fell on Day 1. The left-handed batter, who registered one half-century in his previous 12 Test innings, scored 31 before he was trapped lbw by India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.  

"I think we lost an additional wicket.  We started well with the bat. Our position is still good. I wouldn't say it's too bad. We still have a lot of batters left. We can go towards a good position if we can have a couple of partnerships. At this point, I would say we are in the middle.    

"The wicket was good. The challenge here is that the play is being interrupted [due to rain]; it's an on-and-off thing. The batters have to bat with the concern that rain can become an obstacle at any time which is tough."

The morning of September 29 must have broken with some harsh light for the Bangladesh cricketers in Dubai and their loyal fans back home. It was much the same on March 23, 2012, when the Asia Cup final against Pakistan was lost in the final ball in Mirpur the night before. But as time wore on in 2012, the pain of defeat gave way to a feeling of accomplishment born from the feeling that Bangladesh cricket had finally broken through and had defeated all but one of their more celebrated neighbours before falling at the final hurdle.

On Friday night, the pain of failure at the final hurdle in the final ball -- this time against India -- haunted the cricketers and cricket lovers once again. Like 2012, this pain too shall pass but there will be a different sense of accomplishment from Asia Cup 2018.

Defeating Sri Lanka in the opener, then Afghanistan and Pakistan in must-win games may sound par for the course for the team fans have come to know since 2012. However, winning two of those matches without talismanic opener Tamim Iqbal and the one against Pakistan without both Tamim and ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan is not something that would have been expected. Making the final in the kind of heat they had never experienced before and doing it with setbacks that would have crippled Bangladesh sides of the past marks a new level.

To accomplish that, young players who were part of the support cast -- Liton Das and Mohammad Mithun -- and those who were leaders in waiting but often seemed to need a helping hand -- Mustafizur Rahman and Mehedi Hasan Miraz -- came to the fore. That, and the tremendous fighting spirit shown by the Tigers throughout the two-week long event -- not least in taking India's chase of 222 down to the final ball on Friday -- will be Bangladesh's biggest takeaway.

"Everyone may think about the 2012 Asia Cup final, but I see it a little differently," Bangladesh opener Tamim had said on September 13, two days before the tournament opener against Sri Lanka in Dubai. "The 2012 Asia Cup was the tournament where we first got the belief that we could beat any team -- that we could be competitive.

"I remember that; not my four fifties or how we lost the final by two runs. I remember how we played as a team and beat teams that no one would have thought we could beat. We beat India and Sri Lanka, and lost two very competitive matches against Pakistan."

Little did Tamim know then that it was his injury two days later, which forced him to fly out of the Asia Cup and back home, that would contribute to this tournament being remembered as the next big step for Bangladesh after 2012.

Since 2012, Bangladesh's graph has trended upward, with occasional dips. But a common feature of that rise has been the people doing the heavy lifting. Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad have been the five cricketers who have worked wonders for Bangladesh cricket over much of the last decade.

But this Asia Cup was a departure from the norm because the Bangladesh team do not often do well with setbacks, especially when they have to fight with those setbacks against oppositions perceived to be superior. That happened in this tournament too -- losing the last group game against Afghanistan and the first Super Four match against India in abject fashion were a function of them struggling to overcome the setbacks of losing Tamim, scheduling confusions and having to play three matches in four days in 40-plus degree heat.

The recovery, and the architects of the recovery, will be the source of inspiration for future campaigns. While it is true that there was magical captaincy from Mashrafe, he still had to rely on opener Imrul Kayes to fly in on Saturday night and score a match-winning fifty against Afghanistan on Sunday from number six, rescuing the side in partnership with Mahmudullah from 87 for five. Faced with non-performing opening pairs, Mashrafe took the wildcard decision to open with number eight batsman Mehedi in the final, but the youngster still had to show the courage to be a part of a 120-run opening stand with a sublime Liton. For his part, Liton was the one who had to repay his captain's continued faith, and he did so with a maiden century in the most important game of the tournament.

Mushfiqur was Bangladesh's best batsman in the tournament with scores of 144 in the opening game and 99 against Pakistan. In both those innings, however, Mithun was an indispensable foil with innings of 63 and 60 in century-plus partnerships that rescued Bangladesh from top-order collapses. 

In each of Bangladesh's three wins in the tournament, someone other than the Big Five stepped up and took responsibility. The bowlers, led by Mashrafe, Mustafizur and Mehedi, were consistent throughout and the spirited fielding was the flag-bearer of the team's never-say-die spirit.

 "The positives depend on the individuals. I think losing to India twice was something that I didn't desire. When Shakib and Tamim are back, the team will do well in the future if we can hold on to this spirit," Mashrafe said after the match.

There will certainly be heartbroken fans who will rue another missed opportunity, another last-ball failure. But this tournament showed that the ingredients long craved for outside the Big Five are very much present and the work in progress is waiting for completion with the return of the two big stalwarts.

The takeaway from this latest heartbreak is that it will just be a matter of time before bittersweet gives way to unadulterated joy.

The FIFA World Cup fever is raging as fans across Bangladesh are glued to their TV sets desperate to stay updated on the ins and outs of their favourite teams. 

That fever has also drummed up the World Cup spirit in former Bangladesh cricket team captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, who is an avid Argentina fan and predicts that Argentina skipper Lionel Messi would score seven goals and take away both the Golden Ball and the Golden Boot this time around.

Interestingly, Mashrafe's allegiance is completely opposite to his family members, who root for the five-time champions Brazil.

It is, however, a very common scenario in a lot of Bangladeshi households to see family members divided by their choice of teams during the time of World Cup.

Mashrafe's Argentina convictions sparked when he saw the magnificent Diego Maradona enchant fans around the world with his magical touch in the 1990 World Cup.

The charismatic former Bangladesh skipper, however, admitted that he didn't know much about football back then.

"I was only eight when I saw the 1990 World Cup. I couldn't have known much about football," the Narail Express told The Daily Star, adding, "I used to follow the ones who could dribble well. And Maradona used to dribble past all the players and go through on goal."

Mashrafe was mesmerised, and that embedded an unconditional love for Argentina despite the fact that all his family members have been fans of the Albiceleste's archrivals Brazil.

"My father and my uncles always rooted for Brazil and told me tales of the Brazil team but only I liked Maradona and am the lone Argentina fan in my family," the 39-year -old said.

Argentina last won the World Cup in 1986 amid the most controversial of events centering Maradona. The forward, in a Houdini act, managed to disguise his punch that guided the ball to the back of the net against England in the quarterfinal, an incident which only English goalkeeper Peter Shilton protested. But despite the foul play, it brought Argentina their second World Cup trophy.

The Albiceleste were runners-up in the 1990 World Cup and got very close to winning it again in 2014. In the final of that edition eight years ago, the Argentines, including Lionel Messi, missed a number of chances that saw their glorious opportunity of bringing the trophy home slip away to Germany.

An ardent Maradona fan, Mashrafe admitted that he has a lot of admiration for Messi; perhaps not as much as Maradona but he banks on Messi's magic if Argentina are to go all the way this time around.

But the former Bangladesh captain still carries regrets about that 2014 final.

"What did Messi do on that day?!" he commented on Messi's left-footed miss in the 47th minute. "Who misses that kind of opportunity? He finishes that chance nine times out of ten in any other match but he just had to miss that chance on that day," Mashrafe added.
 
Unsurprisingly, Mashrafe has tipped the Messi-led Argentina to lift the World Cup in a prediction segment in The Daily Star.

He asserted that Messi, despite all his achievements, would have to win the World Cup to match the feats of Maradona and Brazil's Pele.

"Messi has won everything but he must win a World Cup which is something Pele and Maradona have done.. I think Messi will score seven goals this time and will also be the best player of the tournament," Mashrafe said before making the bold prediction about Messi. 

After an agonising defeat in the final of the Asia Cup against India in UAE on Friday night, the Bangladesh cricket team returned home last night with heads held high.

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and his troops fought till the last ball of the match defending a small total of 222, but ended up as runners-up once again.

It was a mixed bag for the Tigers in terms of performance and there were a lot of incidents on and off the field, making the competition a memorable one.

It started with Tamim Iqbal's return to bat with a finger injury and defending a Suranga Lakmal delivery against Sri Lanka in the opening game where the left-hander left the field early after suffering a blow to his left hand knuckle against the same bowler. Tamim's bravery was praised worldwide.

Mushfiqur Rahim smashed a magnificent hundred with a fractured rib in the same game before scoring 99 against Pakistan while Shakib Al Hasan's departure from the tournament following a finger injury ahead of the Pakistan game made matters more desperate for the Tigers.

Tigers' next assignment will be the upcoming home series against Zimbabwe later this month featuring three ODIs and two Test matches.

The Zimbabwe series will be followed by another home series against West Indies in November where they will play two Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is.

"We have two home series and the New Zealand tour. We have a lot of work to do in the next two series, where we will have to play well," Mashrafe told reporters after the defeat in the final on Friday.

The team management will also have to deal with the injury concerns of the senior members of the side ahead of the home series.