There has been a lot of debate on social media and elsewhere regarding Liton Das's stumping by Mahendra Singh Dhoni in Friday's Asia Cup final. The decision was very close, as multiple angles of the sequence showed, before the third umpire finally ruled in favour of India. Here is what Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza had to say about this: "It is hard to tell. At one point we felt it was not out. I think the third umpire can say it better. Maybe it will be discussed later."
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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?
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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.
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If there is one thing that permeates every facet of Mushfiqur Rahim's identity as a cricketer and, as proved once again in the Asia Cup opener on Saturday, his status as Bangladesh's best all-round batsman it is his monk-like dedication to prepare as well as humanly possible.
He drew on the Zen-like calm that exhaustive levels of honing inevitably brings while authoring a sublime 150-ball 144 that started in 40-plus degree Celsius heat and went through the travails of a misfiring batting line-up. While a top order collapse and a middle order flurry of wickets is part and parcel of Bangladesh cricket, the Dubai heat in September is not something that any of the team had experienced.
"This is why we train. We don't have experience of batting in such conditions in the past but nobody really notices the hard work we put in at training," Mushfiqur said yesterday at the team's Dubai hotel. "We don't see you when we go for the running sessions at 8:00am. You come after 10:00am or 11:00am. The whole team dedicates itself to such training and this is the just result. [Mohammad] Mithun could have played such an innings because he too prepares himself really well."
He scored his first 10 runs off 31 deliveries, making sure there were no further damages after Bangladesh lost two wickets in the first over and Tamim Iqbal through injury in the second, talking Mohammad Mithun -- making a comeback to the side -- through the tough phase and some false shots. He hit the side's first boundary in the last ball of the eighth over, which in these boundary-filled times shows how tough those first 10 overs were.
Having shown his skill of endurance, the multi-layered Mushfiqur then set about taking the attack apart, bringing up his 50 off 67 balls.
"Mithun really helped me with his positive intent, he made things easier for me. I thought if we could build a partnership -- it was a very good batting wicket -- we would be back on track," said Mushfiqur. "But he got out at a bad time because a set batsman should not have gotten out at that time."
Mithun faltered in the 26th over, playing across the line to Malinga and getting out, precipitating a collapse of three wickets for 10 runs. Mushfiqur returned to endurance mode and continued to inch Bangladesh towards a competitive total with a string of small partnerships with the lower order.
When Tamim made his heroic appearance on 229 for nine, when all 13 players on the ground had thought the innings over, Mushfiqur went up a gear that probably he alone has in Bangladesh. At his best, his arsenal of shots is so varied that no delivery, even yorkers, escape punishment. There was the scoop that turned into a ramp at the last second, inside-out cover drives for a four and a six and a pulled six that would have been expected of a batsman twice his size.
It speaks to the scale of his ambition and his ability that, while the rest of the world raves about the innings, Mushfiqur would not say that it was his best innings.
"All things considered, many may say that," Mushfiqur said. "But I think in the future there may be better innings. But till now, it is one of the best; not the best."
About Tamim coming out to bat with a broken wrist, Mushfiqur -- nursing an injured rib himself -- said: "It was unbelievable. It was different from mine because he could not grip the bat at all. All of us have the dedication for the team and country. Of course the focus is on the two of us because the team won because of us, but even when we lose the dedication is the same."
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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.
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The 2022 Asia Cup will be played in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) while still being officially hosted by Sri Lanka, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) said in a statement on Wednesday. The ACC said that the tournament has been moved to the UAE "considering the prevailing situation in Sri Lanka". It will be played between August 27 and September 11.
"Considering the prevailing situation in Sri Lanka, the ACC after extensive deliberation has unanimously concluded that it would be appropriate to relocate the tournament from Sri Lanka to the UAE," the ACC said in a statement.
Sri Lanka has been reeling under economic and political turmoil. However, they had hosted Australia in a bilateral series and are currently hosting Pakistan. The ACC said that it had made every effort to host the tournament in the country.
"Every effort was made to host the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka and the decision to shift the venue to the UAE was taken after much deliberation. The UAE will be the new venue while Sri Lanka will continue to retain hosting rights," ACC president Jay Shah was quoted as saying. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly had earlier said that the tournament had been moved out of Sri Lanka to the UAE.
This will make it the second consecutive time that the tournament will be played in the UAE. The six-team Asia Cup will be played as a T20 tournament this year. India are the defending champions, having won the tournament in 2018 while it was still played in the ODI format.
The Asia Cup will be played in T20 format this time and serve as preparation for the World Cup in October. It will start with a qualifying round of matches between UAE, Kuwait, Singapore and Hong Kong. The winner will go on to the main tournament and play Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
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