‘I’m hoping for upsets’

The match took place at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, but the pitch and the crowd were such that Bangladesh’s method during yesterday’s 62-run win against Afghanistan was straight from the Mirpur playbook. On a slow wicket, they overcame Afghanistan’s spin threat with steady partnerships built around Mushfiqur Rahim’s 83, and slowly but surely accelerated to a total of 262 for eight. Then, the bowlers, all raised on sluggish surfaces, choked the Afghan batsmen into making mistakes and one particular player drew blood five times as the required run rate ballooned and the wickets in hand shrivelled.

Also, like Mirpur, the support for Bangladesh was overwhelming. When the match was nearing its conclusion, loud chants of ‘Shakib, Shakib!’ went up when Bangladesh’s highest scorer and highest wicket-taker in this World Cup was fielding at the deep square leg fence. He had just completed the quintessential star all-rounder’s performance, scoring 52 in Bangladesh’s innings and then returning spectacular figures of five for 29 from 10 miserly, incisive overs. If his contribution to Bangladesh staying relevant in the World Cup needed to be underscored, he has been the player-of-the-match in the three matches that Bangladesh have won so far.

The win, with two World Cup matches left, moves the Tigers up to fifth position with the equation remaining much the same – having to win their last two matches against India on July 2 and Pakistan on July 5, as well as needing one or two other results to go their way, to make the semifinals.

Skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza had placed great importance on assessing conditions during play to win matches across the varying conditions and grounds of the UK. He could not have asked for more than a slowish wicket, a large outfield and Afghanistan skipper Gulbadin Naib’s favour of batting last on a used wicket. Afghanistan had played India on the same surface on Saturday and held their mighty opponents to 224 for eight in an 11-run loss and so would have had a good idea of conditions. But being the superior team on paper, in rankings, on current form and in experience proved to be enough for Bangladesh who understood the Mirpur-ness of the situation and played accordingly.

But it was not all roses for Bangladesh. Their toughest tests are to come in crunch matches against stronger subcontinental opposition, both of whom can be expected to largely negate their spin strength. In that regard, the pace department is a concern. All of them -- Mustafizur Rahman (6.7), Mohammad Saifuddin (6.69) and Mashrafe (6.34) – have been expensive throughout the World Cup. Mashrafe has gone wicketless in five of the six matches so far, including yesterday. Mustafizur and Saifuddin are equal with Shakib on wickets with 10 each, but the two wickets that Mustafizur took – Rashid Khan in the 44rd over and Dawlat Zadran in the 46th – and Saifuddin’s wicket of Mujeeb Ur Rahman to end the chase on 200 with three overs left were all taken when the result was beyond question.

It was Shakib who, in three spells of wily left-arm spin, won the match for Bangladesh. Coming on in the 11th over, he dismissed Rahmat Shah with a skidder that the batsman top edged to mid on. Mosaddek Hossain chipped in by having Hashmatullah Shahidi stumped, but Shakib was back in the 29th over to deal the decisive blow. Naib, the innings’ top scorer with 47, was caught smartly by Liton Das at short cover and a ball later, Shakib bowled

Mohamamd Nabi with a classic arm-ball that snuck through bat and pad. In the 33rd, he had Asghar Afghan smartly stumped by Mushfiqur Rahim. At the end of the over Shakib’s figures read four for 10 from seven overs. Mashrafe could have gone for the kill, but chose to rest Shakib, who had to wait till the 42nd over to bag his second ODI five-for through another stumping, this time the victim being Najibullah Zadran as Afghanistan fell to 188 for seven.

When Bangladesh were batting, even the new ball was stopping on the batsmen, as illustrated by some airy drives early on by Tamim Iqbal and Liton Das, who was opening the innings instead of Soumya Sarkar presumably to deny off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman two left-handers to bowl to.

It was one that stopped that got rid of Liton for 16, when the right-hander drove early against a carrom ball and offered a low catch to cover, where Hashmatullah Shahidi got his fingers underneath the ball just before it hit the turf. The decision went upstairs with a soft signal of out, and after a few replays it was concluded that the catch was clean.

The in-form Shakib Al Hasan was nurdling singles, while Tamim found it harder to score, especially against the off spin of Mohammad Nabi, who was extracting sharp turn from the surface. Tamim made up for a slow start by striking two boundaries off Gulbadin Naib in the 14th over. However, as has been a feature so far in this World Cup, he departed after having done the hard work when, on 36 from 52 balls in the 17th over, he shaped to cut the last ball from Nabi anticipation of turn, but was bowled by one that went straight through.

Off the very next ball, bowled from the other end by Rashid Khan, Shakib was adjudged leg-before and immediately reviewed and, fortunately for Bangladesh, the decision was overturned as the ball was shown to be going over the stumps.

Tamim’s departure brought the form duo of Mushfiqur and Shakib together, and they set about milking the Afghan spinners, bringing up the fifty-run stand in just 51 balls in the 25th over. Shakib’s dismissal, leg-before to Mujeeb, brought to an end a 61-run third-wicket stand. Soumya did not last long, but Mahmudullah Riyad stitched together another significant partnership of 56 for the fifth wicket with Mushfiqur. Despite being visible hampered by a calf strain that he would later get scanned last night, Mahmudullah ran hard and hit some timely blows before a tired looking shot off a Naib slower delivery saw him depart for 28 off 37.

From 217 for five after 43 overs, Mosaddek and Mushfiqur took some quick runs, focusing as much on boundaries as on singles. Bangladesh scored 68 off the last 10 overs. Mushfiqur holed out off Dawlat in the penultimate over for a valuable 87-ball 83, and Mosaddek was bowled by Naib off the last ball for a vital 24-ball 35.

After two closely-contested games that saw Bangladesh win one and lose the other, the third against England at Cardiff yesterday turned out to be a bitter pill to swallow.

The ruthless England batters burst the Tigers’ growing World Cup bubble with an astonishing display of clean hitting that produced 386 for six.

The game as a contest was well and truly over at that point.

The Tigers fans in the stands, at a venue where their beloved team had pulled off two miracles before, were expecting another. But it was not to be as Bangladesh’s chase ended on 280.

The highlight of the Bangladesh innings was a fighting 121 by Shakib Al Hasan. His maiden World Cup century kept Bangladesh ticking along and his century stand for the third wicket with Mushfiqur Rahim was the other bright spot in a game where hosts England hardly put a foot wrong after losing the toss.

The decision from Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza to bowl first was not a bad one considering the wicket was under covers for the past two days due to inclement weather. But the way the wicket behaved throughout the game surprised many. There was little seam move-ment and no assistance for the spinners. It was an ideal wicket for England to launch a blister-ing attack against a bowling unit that lacked express pace bowlers and prodigious turners.

Jason Roy scored an imperious 153 and his opening partner, Jonny Bairstow, hit a run-a-ball 50 to give the home side the perfect start. Jos Buttler smashed a 44-ball 64 in the middle and Liam Plunkett provided the perfect finish with a nine-ball 26. England captain Eoin Morgan also chipped in with 35 off 33 balls.

Almost all the seven bowlers Bangladesh used in the match went for seven or more runs per overs. Did they really bowl badly? It is better to say they did not bowl well in tandem, which is the key to pressuring oppositions on non-responsive wickets.

When the going gets tough, the onus is on the captain to rotate his bowlers wisely. But Mashrafe, it seemed, erred under pressure. He almost used up Shakib in the first 20 overs, leav-ing the middle-overs for Mustafizur Rahman to tackle along with off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz. Mustafizur did not bowl well and it was where Bangladesh lost the plot to containing a marauding England.

Bangladesh showed signs of slowing the England progress with two quick wickets but Mashrafe, who is increasingly feeling the pressure of a non-performing captain in three World Cup games so far, made one last error of judgement in the 49th over when he introduced himself into the attack.

He was the most economical among the bowlers with 50 for one from nine overs before that. The captain might have thought others could be more expensive. But it belied logic because he has not bowled in the death overs for a long time and his past experiences of bowling at the death often proved futile.

Mustafizur might have conceded a lot of runs but he was still the best proven option to bowl at the death irrespective of how expensive he was previously. Mashrafe went for 18 runs in that over. Mustafizur might have been costlier, but with him bowling at the death, options are al-ways open for something different to happen.

England were 355 for six after 48 overs. They scored another 30-odd runs in the last two overs with Saifuddin bowling the last over although Fizz still had one left in his quota of 10.

It was England’s day to avenge their World Cup defeat against Bangladesh four years ago. It was Rubel Hossain who knocked England out of the World Cup with a searing display of pace bowling then. Four years down the line, Rubel is still the part of the Tigers’ World Cup squad. He has so far been warming the reserve’s bench.

And Mashrafe knows better than anybody that Rubel deserved better. This World Cup is not for containers. It has been proven that aggressive bowlers are more useful than disciplined ones because nobody now cares about how many runs you have conceded, but how many priceless wickets you have taken at the end of the day.

It is a call the inspirational Bangladesh captain has to take some time during the course of the tournament, even if it is harsh on him.

A recurring theme of Bangladesh’s World Cup campaign has been that Shakib Al Hasan has been head and shoulders above his teammates. Yesterday, during the 106-run loss against England, while the rest of the team ap-peared to be in damage-control mode, first trying in vain to limit England’s scoring and then to overcome scoreboard pressure and the hosts’ finely honed bowling attack, Shakib adapted to conditions and became only the second Bangladesh batsman to hit a World Cup century.

With a lowest score of 64 in the 3 matches so far, Shakib’s 119-ball 121 took him to the top of the run-scorers’ charts in this edition with 260 runs at an average of 86.7.

The number one all-rounder in world cricket is known for out-smarting batsmen with his left-arm spin and his batting is much the same, especially yesterday when -- com-ing in at number three -- he absorbed the early pace pressure from Jofra Archer and Mark Wood and soon found a way to pick his areas and deliveries to score runs at a good rate while his teammates floundered.

“They were quick, but I enjoyed the difficult challenge,” Shakib said in the post-match press conference at the Cardiff Wales Stadium yesterday. “They are the two quickest bowlers in the World Cup. It was tough but I felt very happy about the way I played them.”

He was troubled early by Archer’s bouncers but soon enough, moved inside the line to hook him over fine leg for six.

Just as he found solutions to England, he has found a way to give more to the team by batting at number three, where he has averaged 55.4 since January 2017.

“It was my decision. I had to convince everyone,” Shakib laughingly said. “If I don’t score runs in a single match, they think that I should bat at five. It is working at the mo-ment.

“Having said that, it is just the start. I need to contribute with both bat and ball. I thought [batting at No 3] is a better opportunity to contribute more with the bat. There are plenty of matches left in this tournament.”

It is generally acknowledged that he is the best all-rounder in the world. Perhaps his exalted status in world cricket gave him the belief that he is capable of taking on the best, or perhaps that belief makes him the best. Either way, after a timid display yester-day, the rest of his teammates can use his example well in the coming matches.