Mashrafe urges positivity

If there was any question about the quality of Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's focus on cricket after he became involved in politics, he answered it not only with three good bowling performances in Bangladesh's 2-1 ODI series win, but also with words after winning the third and final game against West Indies in Sylhet yesterday.

The 35-year-old, who will contest a seat in his hometown of Narail in the upcoming general election, very seldom gets riled up by questions. He was not exactly angry, but reacted with more irritation than any cricketing question can cause when asked what his plans were in the political sphere.

"Because of this type of question, I did a press conference before the series," Mashrafe, who finished as the joint-highest wicket-taker of the series with six scalps, said. "I expected that there wouldn't be any such questions during the series. I want to thank you for not asking me these questions in the last 8-10 days, which helped me a lot."

The win was all the more auspicious as it came in the 70th ODI that Mashrafe played as captain, a Bangladesh record.

There was reason to be miffed as Mashrafe was basking in the glory of the country's eighth series win out of 12 since the end of the 2015 World Cup. All of those have come under Mashrafe and he believed it put the team in good stead for the 2019 World Cup less than six months away in England.

"Winning eight out of 12 ODI series makes it clear that we have progressed, and we are playing with confidence," Mashrafe said. "We have the New Zealand series coming up [in February 2019]. It is an important series for us since we lost to them last year. I think we have a more balanced sideand hope to do well there."

There was one more question that was not about the match that he had to bat aside, and that was regarding whether the 35-year-old would retire after the World Cup.

"From the bottom of my heart, I have never deeply thought about [this being my last game at home]. What I will do after the World Cup, I will decide after the last match in the World Cup. I will come home and tell you if I am no longer playing and if I want to review my situation, I will still let you know. So, don't be puzzled. Just relax," Mashrafe said with a laugh.

The person he had to thank for this latest laurel was sitting beside him. While Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar made a mockery of the chase, it was Mehedi Hasan Miraz's career-best figures of four for 29 that enabled the Tigers to romp home with eight wickets and 69 balls to spare.

"The wicket had slight moisture with help for spinners early in the game.  It was great to bowl eight overs from one end, which helped me take wickets," Mehedi said. He has just recently, from the tour of West Indies in July, started playing regularly in the ODI team and was beaming with delight at having put in a series-winning performance.

"I have always wanted to do well in ODIs, after I made the good start in Tests. I have only become consistent in ODIs since the West Indies series. If I bowl tightly in ODIs, the captain will have trust in me."

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."

Bangladesh ODI captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza yesterday collected a nomination form from the Awami League to contest the upcoming general election from his home district of Narail.

Mashrafe, arguably the most popular cricketer in the country, bought the form for Narail-2, a constituency where Sheikh Hafizur Rahman, district president of Workers Party of Bangladesh, is the current lawmaker.

Before collecting the form, Mashrafe sought blessings from Prime Minister and AL's President Sheikh Hasina.

He went to the Gono Bhaban around 11:30am, an official of the PM's press wing told The Daily Star.

Coming out of the PM's residence, Mashrafe went to the AL president's Dhanmondi office around 1:30pm and received the form from party General Secretary Obaidul Quader.

Later, Quader told reporters that although Mashrafe was involved in politics, it would not impact his cricket career. 

On Saturday, an official of Quader's road transport and bridges ministry said national team cricketers -- Mashrafe and Shakib Al Hasan -- would buy AL nomination forms today to take part in the upcoming general election from Narail and Magura respectively.

Later, Shakib, skipper of Bangladesh Test and T20, backtracked on his decision.

Quader yesterday told reporters that Hasina advised Shakib not to participate in the upcoming parliamentary election and give full attention to cricket.

She asked Shakib to pay more attention to cricket as the World Cup would be held next year, Quader quoted Hasina as saying.

Bangladesh ODI captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza collects a nomination form from Awami League’s Dhanmondi office on Sunday, November 11, 2018 to contest the upcoming 11th parliamentary election with Awami League ticket from Narail-2 constituency. Photo: Collected

What increasingly appears to be favouritism towards cricketing powerhouse India has turned the Asia Cup into a near farce. Even with two group matches left and Group A and Group B champions yet to be decided, on Wednesday morning the Asian Cricket Council has published the fixtures list of the Super Four stage starting on Friday.

That should not have been possible, because the original schedule had Super Four matches set as 'Group A winner vs Group B runners-up', 'Group A runners-up vs Group B winners' and so on. Therefore, unless group champions are determined -- as they will be after Wednesday's India vs Pakistan encounter and Thursday's Bangladesh vs Afghanistan Group B match, it is not possible as per the original schedule to name the matches for the Super Four stage.

The four teams have already qualified, but it should have all come down to the last group matches to determine the standings and the shape of the second-stage.

India had expressed a desire to play all their matches in Dubai and not visit Abu Dhabi during the tournament. It seems they have gotten their wish, and the fixtures have been set in such a way that while other teams will have to adjust their plans, India will play all their matches in Dubai.

"We knew nothing of it," said Bangladesh Cricket Board CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury, now in Dubai. "We have verbally sought an explanation from the ACC, and if not satisfied we will take it up in the ACC board meeting after the tournament.

"It is very disappointing," said Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza yesterday after learning of the change when they arrived for practice at the ICC Academy. Bangladesh and Afghanistan were the most disadvantaged even in the original schedule because they will have to play on successive days in heat that exceeds 40 degrees Celsius in the daytime. The organisers made sure that neither marquee names Pakistan, India or Sri Lanka -- had they made it through -- would not suffer that fate.

However, the reason this latest tweak will rankle both sides -- apart from the fact that favouring one side at the expense of three others destroys the credibility of the tournament -- is that if the Super Four matches have already been decided, then today's match becomes completely academic and unnecessary if it will not even determine who the winner plays to start the next stage.

As such, a day before matches infinitely more important, the players are well within their rights to feel aggrieved and abused as they will play a full match with less than 15 hours of recovery time before starting the next one.

"Basically we were made the second team in Group B even before we played the last game. It is frustrating," Mashrafe, normally a very diplomatic public speaker, said.

"We'll play -- of course it is an international match where we are representing our nation, so of course it's important. But whether you are talking about group stage matches or other matches, there are certain rules within which they operate. We are getting away from the rules, so it's disappointing.

"Even a mad person would be upset," said Mashrafe when asked whether this state of affairs has upset the team.

ACC officials, meanwhile, have been tying themselves up in knots to explain the farce.

"We asked them for an explanation and they said that this was how it was originally intended -- Bangladesh would be B2 and Afghanistan B1," Bangladesh team manager Khaled Mahmud said. "When asked what would have happened if Sri Lanka qualified, they said that it was Sri Lanka/Afghanistan in the original schedule."

That means that they presumed Bangladesh's qualification -- a generosity of estimation not reflected in the scheduling. Another official said that it was written in the small print when the fixture was first released that India, if they qualified, would be A1 as they expressed a preference to play in Dubai. The fixture list the media received at the start of the accreditation process contained no such small print.

Roshini Jayakrishnan, the media consultant of the ACC, was asked in the Dubai International Stadium press box yesterday whether the organisation had any explanations for the change. She said that she would ask the BCCI, although the decision was supposedly made by the ACC.

The bias towards India in cricket is now common knowledge; it was only the nakedness of its presence in Dubai that surprised.

India have been far and away the best team in the ongoing Asia Cup. There may have been a lot of disgruntled noises from other teams -- including Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza -- hinting at the preferential schedule the world's number one ODI side have been handed, but there is an argument to be made that even the worst of schedules would not have altered the results much.

And the results speak for themselves. They beat Pakistan by eight and nine wickets respectively in two matches, and Bangladesh -- their opponents in today's Asia Cup final -- by seven wickets. They rested their best players in the opening match against Hong Kong and the minnows put up a spirited show to lose by just 26 runs. In their last match too, having already confirmed a place in the final, they fielded a weaker side against the tournament's revelations Afghanistan and got away with a tie.

A major architect of their dominance has been vice-captain Shikhar Dhawan, who has been the tournament's highest scorer with 327 runs with an average of 82, including two centuries. However, more than talk about his or his team's achievements, he was generous in his praise for his opponents, who moved into the final by beating Pakistan despite missing two stalwarts in Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal.

"I guess they're balanced, know what their strengths are and they've improved a lot," he said of Bangladesh during the pre-final press conference in Dubai yesterday. "They're a competitive side. Hats off to them, the way they played and won against Pakistan. When you play all-round cricket, the results will follow. The plan we made against them in the previous game, we will try and stick to that. Conditions will remain the same [at the Dubai International Stadium], we'll plan for individuals by looking at videos of their batsmen, revise and prepare accordingly."

The top billing for the Asia Cup was of course the India-Pakistan rivalry, and press conferences surrounding the two teams often focused on questions about the archrival, despite who they were playing the following day or had just played.

"Of course we'll carry momentum and give it our best shot; all teams are competitive," Dhawan said. "Everyone thought it was going to be an India-Pakistan final, but Bangladesh won a great match last night [Wednesday], we can't take them lightly just because Pakistan is a bigger team. Bangladesh are playing better cricket, there's a difference between a team on paper and who is doing well on the field, that's how I see it."

When reminded that Bangladesh have not won a final against India -- in the last Asia Cup in Dhaka, in the Nidahas Trophy in March -- Dhawan again batted for his opponents.

"How many years have they been playing cricket now? If we see any other team, what will be the difference? Sometimes reaching finals is a big thing, I look at it differently. Hopefully we win tomorrow, [but] we will see them crossing that barrier also, things can change anytime."