Mashrafe urges positivity

Such has been Shakib Al Hasan's brilliance in this World Cup that after a whimpering end to their campaign, Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza kept naming the all-rounder when speaking of the positives. Shakib's performance -- 606 runs and 11 wickets -- actually transcended the results of the team he played for, and Mashrafe said the only regret was that Bangladesh could not take Shakib further.

"I should talk about Shakib; he has been absolutely beautiful. Batted at three, did what he could do. I feel very bad for Shakib," Mashrafe said after the match. "The tournament he had, he deserved to be in the semifinal. Really feel sorry for him. I think it was one of the best performances not just in this World Cup, but in all editions. It is disappointing that a player who played like that is not in the semifinals.

"Mushfiqur [Rahim] batted so well," Mashrafe continued about the positives. "We could not do the right things at the right times. We could not take catches when we needed to, and when we needed to bowl well, the bowlers could not step up."

With this being Mashrafe's last World Cup, there was little to do than look forward to Bangladesh's next World Cup in India in 2023, even though he would not be there. He wished that the core of the team would survive and there would be new players who could step up in favourable conditions.

"When we play in the next World Cup, I am sure if there are new players who come in, the team will go forward even more," Mashrafe said. "I wish and pray that Shakib, Tamim [Iqbal], Mushfiqur and [Mahmudullah] Riyad will be alive and well for the next World Cup so that they can guide the newer players. Since it is in India, I of course cannot say that we will win, but Bangladesh will have a chance.

He was more positive about the next tournament because it would be played in Asia and he believed that a bowling attack that was exposed in England would be more impressive in Asia.

"If you ask me after this tournament, when we play in this part of the world, bowling is a big issue. But if we play in Asia we are a far better bowling side."

Liton Das has been one of the more maligned junior national cricketers in Bangladesh, because the perception is that he was wasting his considerable talent with the bat. To watch him play a cover drive and to witness that extra fraction of a second that he has to play the ball is to realise that he could grow to be one of the better batsmen produced by the country. However, seeing him throw away countless good starts with bad shots tempered those expectations considerably.

In the just-concluded Asia Cup, he took up the poisoned chalice of being Tamim Iqbal's opening partner -- a position that no one has been able to make his own despite being given enough opportunities. He scored a 42-ball 43 against Afghanistan in their Super Four game on Sunday, but as seemed typical then, he squandered the start with a wild slog sweep.

In Friday's final against India, Liton moved past all of that with a 117-ball 121 and showed why he has been persisted with. He also proved that, when it comes to possible candidates for the position of Tamim's opening partner, he is the first among equals. If he does make the transition, the innings provided a glimpse into how devastating an opening pair of Tamim and Liton could be.

India's pace attack is a formidable one, and the fiery Jasprit Bumrah had been allowed to settle into his rhythm thus far in the tournament. Liton however displayed that quality that is the bedrock of all batsmen for whom aggression is the modus operandi -- he backed himself to go after the opposition's most feared bowler.

Bumrah bowls above 140 kmph, but Liton repeatedly stepped out to him and hammered boundaries. Bumrah ended his third over, after Liton advanced down the wicket and hit the fast bowler off mid on, having conceded 23 runs. That put the pressure on India's spinners who had thus far come on and benefited from the pacers' economy in their opening spells. Liton took care of that, hitting leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal for big sixes, choosing his areas carefully.

But there was then the typical moment of madness when, just having completed his 50 off 33 deliveries, he went for a wild slog sweep off Kuldeep Yadav. This time, however, he survived as Chahal dropped the catch at mid on.

But what happened then was what will give fans the most hope. Liton saw skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's chest thump from the dressing room asking him to stay strong, and the youngster responded. He chose to play mostly along the ground, picking areas shrewdly for his boundaries. As wickets started falling at regular intervals at the other end, Liton did not throw it away but actually slowed down to complete his maiden century off 87 balls. He kept batting responsibly before a marginal stumping decision, off a defensive shot, ended arguably the innings of the tournament.

It is early days yet, but if Liton can keep mixing his penchant for dominance with thoughtful batting, it will be an auspicious development for Bangladesh cricket.

Performers, be they on stage, in front of television cameras or on the field of play, sometimes talk about 'love the mess' -- in other words revelling in the scenario when things spin out of control -- in order to survive the chaos. Bangladesh are certainly in a chaotic situation in the UAE in their Asia Cup campaign, and just before today's final against top-ranked India, skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza seemed to have started embracing the bedlam.

"In this tournament we surprised ourselves and you folks as well. There were different players at different times in different positions," Mashrafe laughed as he answered a reporter's question about team composition. "Anyway, it was more to do with being a victim of circumstance. With Shakib [Al Hasan] not there, you might see someone [opening the batting] tomorrow who has never opened. We are prepared for everything and I am also asking you to be prepared."

The Asia Cup has been a trial by fire -- or at any rate intense Middle Eastern heat -- for Bangladesh. They lost opener and highest run-getter Tamim Iqbal with a left-hand fracture after the first match, had to contend with confusion surrounding the group placements and scheduling that seemed to be a product of organisers favouring India, and then the loss of ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.

While Mashrafe, always an upbeat person, at times cut a forlorn figure in the middle stages of the tournament when they lost abjectly to Afghanistan and India. But then, on Sunday in the three-run win over Afghanistan, things started improving even as they appeared to become more pear-shaped. Opener Imrul Kayes was flown in to bolster a weak opening partnership, but Mashrafe decided to bat him at number six for the first time in his life, and he scored 72.

On Wednesday, after Shakib was ruled out, Bangladesh still managed to win against Pakistan, having to play with a bowler less. Part-time medium pacer and the other opener flown in, Soumya Sarkar, made up for that handicap with a fine bowling performance and took a wicket, shockingly, with a bouncer. 

Roles have been redefined and Mashrafe seemed to be revelling in the madness of it all.

Seen from a wide angle, this topsy turvy state has hardly come out of the blue. Tamim suffered the fracture in the 11th ball of the tournament against Sri Lanka. Even though he came back to the dressing room with his left arm in a sling, Mashrafe urged the opener to go out at number 11 to enable Mushfiqur Rahim to score as many runs as possible. Tamim had the gumption to follow the order and played a ball one-handed, contributing to the 137-run win.

That single bit of courage and flexibility seems to have infected the whole squad throughout a tournament of highs and lows.

"Frankly, when Tamim took the field with a broken hand, to me I had won the Asia Cup right then," Mashrafe said with a smile.

If he can keep embracing the chaos and thinking out of the box, there may actually be more to smile about today.

Mohammad Ashraful, who was banned for five years for his involvement in match and spot-fixing in the BPL, today returned to the scene where it all started going bad for him as he is featuring in the opening fixture of the BPL for Chittagong Vikings. He was not shy in his first appearance after the ban as he became involved in a comical scene with none other than Bangladesh ODI captain and Rangpur Riders skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza -- a newly elected MP for Bangladesh.

The diminutive right-hander came to the crease at the fall of the first wicket to face the Rangpur skipper who had just gotten the wicket of Cameron Delport in the fourth delivery of the over. What followed can be termed as a dash and smash or perhaps a Mash and Ash coming together.

Ashraful played the Mashrafe delivery towards third man and then ran straight as an arrow towards the other end with the Rangpur skipper going back to his run-up mark unaware of what was happening behind him. Ashraful, hilariously so, proceeded to run straight at Mashrafe and barged into the Rangpur captain to general astonishment and cheers from the ground.

Mashrafe, not one to miss out on the odd bit of humour that BPL avails, welcomed Ashraful with a cheeky kick on the backside which the latter tried to evade. The two former teammates enjoyed a light moment in the very first match of this year's BPL.

Ashraful's tenure at the crease did not last long however as he fell to Shafiul Islam in the next over.

Earlier, Rangpur were bowled out for just 98 with Ravi Bopara's 44 enabling the defending champions to put on a fighting total on the board after they slumped to 7 for 35.