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

The target was just 223 for the vaunted Indian batting that has struck fear in the hearts of bowling line-ups the world over, but that it took them till the last ball of the 50th over to complete a three-wicket win in the Asia Cup final spoke volumes of the heart Bangladesh have shown throughout the tournament.

However, as the fireworks clouded the clear night sky at the Dubai International Stadium last night, Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza would possibly have been wondering what could have been had they batted out 50 overs for just the second time in the tournament, or if they had capitalised on the 120-run opening stand provided by centurion Liton Das and unlikely opener Mehedi Hasan Miraz.

They fought till the end, even when just 18 were needed off four overs with five wickets in hand and then 13 off 18 balls. Rubel Hossain, who bowled brilliantly throughout for figures of 26 for two from 10 overs, had Ravindra Jadeja caught behind in the 48th over which cost just four runs. Mustafizur Rahman bowled another brilliant penultimate over that saw the back of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and conceded just three. With six needed off the last over, part-timer Mahmudullah Riyad bowled intelligently -- bowling the penultimate ball from behind the crease to confuse tailender Kuldeep Yadav -- and brought the equation down to a single needed off the last ball. But Kedar Jadhav, who had to leave the field with cramps and came back to resume batting after Jadeja's exit, managed to get bad on a full delivery and it trickled down to fine leg for the all-important single to be completed.

Hampered by the absences of stalwarts Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh showed outstanding spirit in fighting against all odds. In that the final was an apt one because they had done that throughout the tournament, adapting to setbacks and still finding a way to go past a feisty Afghanistan and a more-fancied Pakistan to make it to the final clash, but the wear and tear of an emotionally and physically exhausting tournament eventually manifested in the form of a batting failure at the most inopportune moment. They were left to rue another heartbreak in the Asia Cup final after falling at the last hurdle against Pakistan in 2012 and India in 2016.

Despite the batting implosion after their brightest start of the tournament, it was a bowling effort that Bangladesh can be proud of as they seemed out of the game on numerous occasions but clawed their way back each time.

Openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan had shot to 35 within five overs, but Nazmul Islam had the latter caught at mid off. Skipper Mashrafe then produced a beautiful away swinger to have Ambati Rayudu caught behind. Rubel hounded Sharma, giving him no room with balls that jagged back in till the Indian captain grew frustrated and hit him to square leg to be out for 47 and bring Bangladesh back into the match at 83 for three in the 17th over.

The Tigers kept a tight leash on Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik, ensuring their 53-run stand was a slow one, coming in 14 overs, before Karthik missed a straight one from Mahmudullah and was adjudged leg-before. Mustafizur Rahman had Dhoni caught in the 37th over for a 67-ball 36 and it was truly game on when Jadhav was forced to retire hurt in the following over. However, in the end, Bangladesh's wasted opportunities with the bat would come back to haunt them.   

It had begun in ideal fashion for Bangladesh after Sharma asked them to bat first on a good wicket. If Mehedi -- a useful number eight batsman -- coming out to open disrupted India's expectations, the way Liton went after strike bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar upended their applecart.

When the elegant but mercurial right-hander jumped down the pitch and clipped Bumrah, bowling at good pace, to the square leg boundary it was a statement of intent that Mehedi received, showing his calibre with a square driven boundary in the same over. Two successive fours off Liton's bat followed in the next over from Kumar and a lofted boundary off a 140kmph-plus Bumrah delivery in the seventh over.

The leg spin of Yuzvendra Chahal was then clobbered for a six over square leg in the next over, which also saw the Bangladesh fifty coming up, without loss in a tournament that Bangladesh's openers had managed a best of 16.

Liton brought up his first ODI fifty off his 33rd ball, hitting the first ball of the 12th over from Jadeja for four. The time was right for the ill-advised shot and Liton did not disappoint, but Chahal did as he failed to latch on to Liton's skied slog sweep at mid on in the same over.

The life seemed to have chastened Liton, as he focused on playing balls along the ground from then, bringing up Bangladesh's first century opening partnership in 27 matches with an edged four in the 18th over.

However, in the 21st over with the score on 120, Mehedi departed when he cut Kuldeep Jadhav straight to cover point and that opened the floodgates. Imrul Kayes was adjudged leg-before for two in the 24th over off Chahal, a decision that stayed with the umpire's call upon review.

Mushfiqur Rahim, in supreme form, was expected to guide Liton to his century, but instead he hit a Jadhav long hop straight down deep midwicket's throat. The collapse that had so far happened at the top shifted to the middle order through a brilliant piece of fielding from Jadeja in the 28th over, when he dived to stop a well-hit cover drive from Liton and then threw at the non-striker's end, which was vacant as Mohammad Mithun was looking at Liton at hand-shaking distance at the other end.

Liton, then on 95 off 84 balls, rushed to his first international century off 87 balls in the next over with a single after hitting a swept four off Jadhav. Mahmudullah succeeded only in accompanying Liton to his century and little else as he followed fellow senior batsman Mushfiqur's example and holed out off Yadav in the 33rd over, meaning that Bangladesh had lost five wickets for 30 runs.

With the seniors having failed them, Liton and Soumya Sarkar then added 58 runs for the sixth wicket before Liton was stumped off Yadav by the finest of margins in the 41st over. The third umpire took ages to make his decision as a magnifier had to be used to determine that the part of Liton's foot that looked to be behind the line was actually not grounded, and he had to walk back for a splendid 121 off 117 balls with 12 fours and two sixes.

Mashrafe then continued the trend of seniors throwing it away as he needlessly tried to repeat a six hit off Yadav and was stumped in the 43rd over, leaving Soumya with the tail. The panic had fully set in by then as evidenced by Nazmul's run out in the 47th over. Two overs later, Soumya followed suit, failing to complete a second run and walking back with a 45-ball 33. Rubel Hossain lasted just one ball and was bowled by a Kumar yorker in the next as Bangladesh were all out with nine balls still to be played.

Bangladesh Test and T20I captain Shakib Al Hasan is currently lying with his left arm in a sling in Apollo Hospital. By the time he had come back from the Asia Cup in the UAE on Wednesday, unable to even grip a bat after batting and bowling in four games, his left little finger had swollen to twice its size. Shakib picked up the injury in a match against Sri Lanka in January this year, and wanted to have surgery before the Asia Cup. He was however not allowed to do so despite publicly stating his intentions.

On Wednesday he wanted to fly to either New York or Melbourne for surgery as quickly as possible, but such was the severity of his condition that doctors barred him from flying. He had to be admitted to hospital and have a substantial amount of pus removed from his infected finger and cannot depart until the infection has subsided.

The following is a timeline of how things got to this stage:

January 27, 2018, Dhaka: In the tri-series final against Sri Lanka, Shakib's dive to stop a single resulted in him dislocating his left little finger upon impact with the ground. Immediately attended by the team physio, Shakib was rushed to Apollo hospital for further treatment and played no further part in the 79-run defeat.

"The X-ray did not reveal any fracture. However, there is subluxation or a joint sprain at the base of the little finger on his left hand. He has been assessed by a cosmetic surgeon and necessary repairs have been done. The affected finger will have to be immobilised for at least a week before further assessment is made."-- Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) chief physician Debashish Chowdhury. Shakib missed the following Test and T20I series.

March 15, 2018, Colombo: "He is on his way here. He will have to be assessed. We will have a look at him to see if he is fit enough to play. And if he is then obviously with someone of his class and calibre they would make it into the side." -- Acting Bangladesh coach Courtney Walsh. Shakib played the last two matches of the Nidahas Trophy.

August 9, 2018, Dhaka: "I feel the sooner the surgery is done, the better. I think it should be done because I don't want to play without being fully fit. So, if I think along those lines then having surgery before the Asia Cup is normal. Most probably it will take place before the Asia Cup," -- Shakib upon his arrival to Dhaka after a month long tour of the West Indies.

"The operation will most probably take place in Australia under Hoy's guidance. As far as I know, Shakib is going to perform Hajj. He can do it before Hajj but once again nothing is confirmed yet."-- Chowdhury

"Coach Steve Rhodes preferred the surgery before the Asia Cup, but when I met with him today, I said it would be better to do it before the Zimbabwe series. The Asia Cup this time is already tough and it will be a psychological disadvantage if Shakib is not there. I can't imagine playing the Asia Cup without him. We will sit with Shakib and discuss everything soon."-- BCB president Nazmul Hassan

August 15, 2018, Dhaka: "Shakib rang me before leaving [for Hajj] and asked me what he should do. I just told him that if you have pain and feel that it will create problems, then you take the decision about the surgery and I also told him that if you feel it will be possible for you to play the Asia Cup then you do it after the tournament. It will good for the team and it is you who has to take the decision." -- Hassan

September 28, 2018, Dhaka: "When I left my team and returned home because of the pain in my hand, I did not understand that I would face such a bad situation. After coming back home, because of intense pain and my hand swelling alarmingly I had to be admitted to hospital and have a surgery. Around 60-70 milligrams of pus was extracted from my finger. Thanks to your prayers, I was saved from a major misfortune. I will have to have another surgery very quickly.

"I request you to keep praying for me. Your prayers and love will help me recover quickly and represent Bangladesh. Thank you."-- Shakib, in a Facebook post.

It was learnt that Shakib's finger was indeed in a critical stage. Doctors have said that if the pus was not removed in time, it was no longer a question of his career but the continued use of his hand. Even if that is an exaggeration, the bare facts reveal that things had gotten to the stage where an emergency procedure was needed -- even though Shakib was desperate to have surgery abroad as soon as possible, he had to have it in Dhaka.

Now, although the left-armer is out of that kind of danger, he may be out of action for up to three months.

As has happened before, a player's health became secondary to the short-term need of the team, regardless of the long-term dangers to the individual. A board is supposed to be structured so that these eventualities can be dealt with professionally and such desperate decisions as forcing a player to play against his will are avoided. Instead, the president himself publicly urged the player to play, hijacking the function of the medical team.

Given that the infection did not happen overnight but rather built through the Asia Cup, it has to be asked how team physio Thihan Chandramohan had allowed Shakib to keep playing and if the eventual result was this. And, if something untoward does happen -- many will say it has already -- will the president answer for sending Shakib to play in the first place?

There were dark clouds surrounding Bangladesh cricket in 2014 as the Tigers were going through one of the toughest periods in international cricket.

Bangladesh were careening from one loss to the next in limited-overs cricket under then skipper Mushfiqur Rahim as they lost 13 consecutive ODIs.

Close defeats against Sri Lanka, followed by a blunder against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup, the embarrassing loss to Hong Kong in the World T20 at home and an all-loss tour of the West Indies had the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) looking for someone to rejuvenate the jaded side.

In came Mashrafe Bin Mortaza to take up the challenge of leading the Tigers in his second stint after a brief captaincy spell back in 2009 was ended by injury.

He returned to lead Bangladesh in ODIs in 2010 where the Tigers registered a famous win against England, but once again injury forced him out after leading in seven ODIs.

The rise of Bangladesh cricket in the ODI format started with Mashrafe's second stint as he led Bangladesh to its maiden World Cup quarterfinal in 2015, presided over home series wins over India, Pakistan and South Africa and also reached the semifinal of the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017.

The once injury-prone Mashrafe has not missed a single game due to injury in his second tenure as captain and since November 2014 till the first ODI against West Indies, he has led Bangladesh in 61 of 64 games.

The three matches he missed were due to either suspensions for slow over rate or being rested.

The inspirational cricketer has often turned things around when Bangladesh badly needed a lift. The most recent example would be the ODI series win in West Indies earlier this year which came just after the humiliating defeats in the two-match Test series.

When he leads Bangladesh out for the 69th time in today's second ODI against the West Indies, the 35-year-old will join Habibul Bashar at the top of the list of most ODIs captained by a Bangladeshi.

Mashrafe has already reached the milestone of being the first Bangladesh player to play 200 ODIs. As two of those were played for an Asian XI in 2006, he will become the first player to play 200 matches for Bangladesh in the third ODI in Sylhet, where he will also surpass Bashar in the captaincy list.

He is already the most successful Bangladesh captain, winning 39 from 68 games whereas Bashar managed to win 29 ODIs in 69 matches.

But it is not just Mashrafe's leadership qualities that has made him exceptional; he has also led from the front with his bowling and since taking up the captaincy in 2014 he has taken 90 wickets in 68 games -- the most by any Bangladesh bowler during this period.

He issued a reminder of that in his 200th ODI as the man for the big occasion was adjudged player of the match for his superb bowling figures of three for 30 in 10 overs. 

If he needs further inspiration to perform today -- not that he needs anything other than the challenge of playing for Bangladesh -- today will also mark another landmark. It will be the 100th international match that Bangladesh's Big Five of Mashrafe, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad play together -- the first time that it has happened with a quintet in Bangladesh crikcet.

As the man who has done more than anyone to forge all that talent into a winning outfit, it will be fitting if Mashrafe notches win number 40 today.