The World Cup has spiced up in the last couple of days. Sri Lanka stunned hot favourites England by 20 runs on Friday and Afghanistan gave the mighty Indians a scare before going down fighting in final over the next day. A breath-taking Carlos Brathwaite almost pulled of a thrilling win for West Indies against tournament leaders New Zealand until a brilliant Trent Boult catch in the deep saved the Black Caps late on that eventful Saturday.
Of the three highly-entertaining games, the Bangladesh cricket team, travelling from Nottingham to Southampton, was perhaps most interested in the India-Afghanistan fixture for obvious reasons. The Tigers face Afghanistan at Southampton’s Rose Bowl today, before their penultimate league fixture against India at Birmingham on July 2.
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The Tigers and their die-hard fans would have liked Afghanistan to upset the Indian applecart and also for the West Indies to beat New Zealand because that would have blown open the race for the last four.
That did not happen and more disturbingly for Bangladesh, the otherwise whipping boys of Afghanistan -- who are yet to win a game in the competition after six matches -- have suddenly found a type of wicket in the Rose Bowl that suits their versatile spin attack most.
It was the spinning trio of Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman that revelled on a slow and a bit turning wicket to restrict the vaunted Indian batting to a modest 224 for eight. They will definitely try to pose a threat to Bangladesh with leg-spinner Rashid desperate to revive his battered image in an otherwise forgettable World Cup.
For Bangladesh, this World Cup has so far been about making one statement after another. Going into the showpiece event, they looked suspect against express pace. And after six games they have overcome that challenge with flying colours. They have adapted to the English conditions nicely and their batting has clicked as a unit in almost all the games.
True, they have never been comfortable against Rashid or, to some extent, off-spinner Mujeeb. But this Bangladesh batting has so far cracked every coce that they have come across. They have shown how methodical they are in attack and even against Australia their execution was near-perfect.
Australia attacked Shakib Al Hasan with a plan and it was successful while Bangladesh targeted Aussie leg-spinner Adam Zampa when they came to chase down a massive 381. They might have fallen short, but the execution with a clear mindset was rewarding and Zampa failed to make any sort of impression.
That clarity of thinking is important for Bangladesh. Not just to overcome the Afghan challenge, but the uphill battles beyond that.
Rashid has been bullying Bangladesh for quite some time. It is about time the Tigers get the monkey off their back for not just a win, but to drive away that self-destructive mindset.
FACTS
The only time Bangladesh faced Afghanistan in the World Cup was in 2015 in Australia, where the Tigers clinched a comprehensive 105-run win. Mashrafe bin Mortaza and his troops also won the last match played between the sides by three runs in the Asia Cup last year in Abu Dhabi.
Bangladesh’s 279 in 2016 in Dhaka remains the highest total scored between the sides.
With 243 runs in six games, Mahmudullah Riyad is the leading run-getter among the sides in ODIs. Tamim Iqbal has the second-most with 237 runs while Hashmatullah Shahidi is in third position with 215 runs.
Shakib Al Hasan leads the wicket-takers’ list between the two sides with 13 scalps while Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan are in second and third place with eleven and ten wickets respectively
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