India win comfortably over arch rivals Pakistan

Expectations were high ahead of the World Cup in England but upon the team’s return home yesterday, captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza spoke of his disappointment of not meeting their own expectations in the coveted tournament, although he lauded the poise from the youngsters.

Aside from Shakib Al Hasan, Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Sabbir Rahman and Liton Das, all of whom are currently on vacation, the rest of the Tigers departed from Heathrow Airport on July 6.

Following their quarterfinal exit in the 2015 edition, the Tigers left for the ongoing World Cup with high hopes of reaching the semifinals for the first time in history.

The accumulation of experience and the fact that the team won their first multi-nation tournament just ahead of the World Cup during a tri-series on their tour of Ireland, where they beat West Indies in the final, provided the team with impetus going into the showpiece event.

Expectations were further justified when they began their campaign with a win against South Africa. However, results did not go their way when it mattered most. Given the format, where all ten teams played each other in the group stage, it was always going to be a tough ask. Yet, the Tigers finished well below the expected mark, ending in eighth place after having targeted a semifinal berth.

“We went there with expectations and from that point of view it is disappointing. If we look at the whole World Cup and how we played, if some things went in our favour, we could have played the semifinals. Overall it was a positive experience but at the same time, the expectations were higher and from that point of view, it was disappointing,” Mashrafe told reporters yesterday upon his arrival at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.

The close defeat to New Zealand and the washed out match against Sri Lanka certainly played a hand but Mashrafe took responsibility nevertheless.

“As a captain, when the team does not fulfil expectations, then I will have to accept criticism. Of course I am taking full responsibility and at the same time it is normal that there will be criticism anywhere in the world after a big tournament,” the inspirational skipper added.

While his disappointment was evident when he suggested that ‘the chips were down’ in crucial matches, Mashrafe spoke highly of the youngsters’ efforts and said they should not be blamed, adding that some could match the levels of the current Big Five.

“It’s always the young players who are particularly blamed. Those who are seniors now, they were young once and not as consistent as they are now. The youngsters now are playing with a level of consistency and under a kind of intense pressure that we did not have to face when we were young,” Mashrafe said, referencing younger players like Mohammad Saifuddin, Mehedi, Mustafizur and Liton Das.

“So, they cannot be blamed unilaterally. They tried very hard. It is a big stage and it is not easy to perform here. I am hoping that with more experience they will reach the levels shown by Shakib, Tamim, Mushfiqur and Riyad.”

Lack of consistency played a key role for the captain in their campaign, which could have ended differently. However, Shakib Al Hasan performed magnificently throughout the tournament and the captain duly credited his star all-rounder.

“Shakib was outstanding. Shakib, Mushfiqur [Rahim], Mustafizur and Saifuddin played outstanding cricket. The others performed less consistently. At some particular points we needed luck to be on our side but that did not happen.”

There's no point in head scratching or pondering on ways to turn back time, it's done. Bangladesh have exited the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 and boarded their flight back home from England yesterday. However, on their way back, there still may be a few things lingering at the back of their minds. Perhaps such thoughts could lead to imaginary scenarios where the 'what ifs' make the difference between what was and what could have been. Just what if…

Mushy had been a little patient

What are the must-do things while defending a below-par 244, that too against a compact New Zealand side at the biggest stage -- a World Cup game? Well, the message from the pavilion would have been to grab every chance you get. If not literally, grabbing opportunities on the ground become easier when you are wearing a pair of gloves. Creating an opportunity, even a tiny error of judgement from the opposition is induced by a series of small endeavours while in pursuit of your aim. But when the moment comes, you need to wait and make the right call and time it to perfection. Maybe Mushfiqur Rahim -- the man with the gloves behind the stumps for the Tigers -- succumbed to euphoria while thinking about the result and had not been concentrating on the process that needs to be done in order to get a desired outcome when he tried to grab the ball early in an attempt to have Kane Williamson run-out in the 12th over. Mushfiqur knocked the bails off with his arm before grabbing the ball and the Kiwi skipper -- batting on eight at that time -- who was nowhere near the crease, had eventually made his ground and survived, courtesy of that error. Williamson, who was finally dismissed on 40 in the 32nd over, went on to string together a 105-run third-wicket stand with Ross Taylor in a game that the Tigers lost by just two wickets.

GOD LET THE SUN SHINE!

The persistent drizzle at the Country Ground in Bristol on June 11 might not have had a huge impact on the lifestyle of the city's inhabitants but it did mar Bangladesh's chalked out plan or intended route to the semifinal of the World Cup. Going into the World Cup, Bangladesh were expected to beat the likes of Afghanistan, West Indies -- which they did eventually -- and Sri Lanka. And when Bangladesh started their campaign with an unexpected yet well-deserved 21-run victory over South Africa, the Tigers had just made their chances brighter, needing to do the regulation work from then on and a few surprise wins over the powerhouses of cricket to pave their way to a maiden World Cup semifinal. However, it all depended on that game against Sri Lanka -- a side that are one place lower in ICC ODI rankings than Bangladesh -- where the Tigers were clearly the favourites. Unfortunately, the Tigers were kept waiting, maybe with hopes of the rain to stop in Bristol, till the official announcement of the match being abandoned was made, forcing the Tigers to remain content with one point from the inexperienced Sri Lankan side.

SABBIR IMPACTED THE RIGHT TEAM

The team management was probably right on money to give Sabbir Rahman the nod ahead of Mosaddek Hossain for the game against Australia on June 20 at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, given Sabbir's reputation and proven ability of playing pace well and better than most in the Tigers' XI. But little did they know that Sabbir's impact in the game would see Australia opener David Warner's bat shine instead of Sabbir himself. Often the destructive Warner does not provide his opposition with any chances but Bangladesh were probably lucky to have been presented with two chances by the left-hander which were both relinquished in the same game. The first opportunity came as early as the fifth over, when Warner went on his back foot to cut a Mashrafe Bin Mortaza delivery towards backward point only to see a perfectly positioned Sabbir going low to his right with both hands and spilling the ball onto the ground. Warner, on just 10, breathed a sigh of relief. By the time the next opportunity came, Warner had inflicted just the right amount of pain as expected after being handed a life early on, as the 32-year old was then batting on 70 in the 26th over. A slight mix-up between him and Usman Khawaja saw Warner run a quarter way to other end but he soon realised that he had to sprint back. A fumble by the same culprit, Sabbir, at mid-on allowed Warner to reach home safely. And this time Warner would stop only after hitting a 147-ball 166 in a game where the Tigers lost by 48 runs and were left wondering what could have happened had they restricted Australia to 30 or 40 runs less than their mammoth 381 for five.

TAMIM HAD NOT DONE THAT

Tamim Iqbal usually takes these types of catches nine times out of ten during fielding drills at practice sessions. But the one time he would miss the catch was unfortunately during Bangladesh's must-win game against India on July 2 at Edgbaston in Birmingham. This time it was not a call for catch by a fielding coach after hitting the ball in the air with a willow during practice sessions as it was India opener Rohit Sharma who had mistimed an attempted pull shot off Mustafizur Rahman in the fifth over of a high intensity World Cup tie. Tamim, running to his left from deep square leg, covered almost 15 yards and did all the hard work before applying the finishing touch -- catching the ball. But to everyone's surprise he spilled the ball after touching it with the palm of his hand before watching it ricochet off his chest and fall to the ground. Rohit, who was on nine, moved onto 10 after taking a single and survived. But you don't expect a batsman of Rohit's calibre to stop there, right? Shrugging off the heart in hand moment, Rohit kept on inflicting misery on Bangladesh, scoring a magnificent 104 off 92 deliveries. The right-hander was adjudged player-of-the-match in their 28-run victory over the Tigers. 

THERE WAS A CLONE OF SHAKIB?

While wondering about what could have happened for Bangladesh in the ongoing World Cup, imagining something totally absurd would not do much harm. The Tigers are out of the World Cup but one particular Tiger from the squad still remains in the mega event. Bangladesh's ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan is well in contention for the player-of-tournament award after his excellent World Cup campaign. The prestigious award would certainly be at the top of Shakib's personal achievement's shelf and it would not be a surprise to see him add the trophy to his other accolades. Playing in eight matches, Shakib has scored fifty or more in seven of them -- with a score of 41 against Australia being the only anomaly. The all-rounder scored back-to-back hundreds in this World Cup and also smashed five fifties. Shakib, who finished with 606 runs, became only the third player ever after Sachin Tendulkar and Matthew Hayden to have scored 600 runs in one edition of the World Cup. While Sachin and Hayden did not part-take with the ball, Shakib has also scalped 11 wickets in the mega event to see him ahead of anyone else in the race to be adjudged the player-of-the-tournament. Maybe now the team management will be left pondering on ways to get a clone of Shakib to further bolster the side.

It doesn't need recounting what all limited-overs cricket has done for the evolution of the sport. However, it is not often acknowledged how much it has done for one of the most exciting rivalries in the sport.

The advent of limited-overs cricket took out the option of a draw, injecting life into a tepid, safety-first approach of cricket between India and Pakistan. So scared were they of losing to each other that for the first four decades, India and Pakistan produced 33 draws in 44 Tests. Only when one-day cricket became big did the two sides start to produce exciting cricket when they played each other.

Imagine, though, the impact the shared bloodied history had on the two cricket teams. They would rather suck all the joy out of an activity that is undertaken for joy than risk losing to the other. No matter how much we cringe at and look away from the jingoism that surrounds these matches, you just can't erase the partition of the two countries from their collective consciousness. Or the two wars that followed.

It is natural that all the pain, all the anger, all the bitterness, all the yearning even, overflows when it suddenly becomes legal for two sides to engage with each other. ODI cricket gave it an unabashed expression, and also narrowed the gap in the quality of the sides. Pakistan were a superior overall side in the 1980s and 1990s thanks to their fast bowlers, but India competed on even terms in the shorter formats. 

Be it the World Championship of Cricket in Australia or the many tournaments in Sharjah in the 1980s and '90s, India vs Pakistan suddenly became the biggest draw in cricket, big enough to challenge and surpass the Ashes. If India's young leg-spinner L Sivaramakrishnan landed a blow by getting Javed Miandad stumped in Australia, Miandad had his own back with a last-ball six in Sharjah. Celebrities, broadcasters, advertisers, and most importantly, the impassioned fans flocked to these matches.

At one level, you feel sorry for the players of both sides because they unwittingly become characters in something much larger than just a cricket match. There is no better illustration of sport being a phoney war than the matches between India and Pakistan. Throughout the 1990s, the two countries hardly engaged with each other except on a cricket field. Players, who are professionals and have no reason to hate fellow professionals beyond a match, felt the weight of everything external.

The ICC, though, was not wise to it: it failed to bring the two teams face to face in any of the first four World Cups. Compare it to today where every draw is manipulated to make sure India and Pakistan play against each other the maximum number of times possible. When they did happen to clash in the World Cups, India somehow managed to surprise Pakistan every time.

When India beat Pakistan in the 2003 World Cup, though, it was no surprise. By this time, the two teams were – arguably for the first time in their history – evenly matched. It also kickstarted the best period for this rivalry. As relations thawed, both teams began to tour each other. Not just the teams, fans crossed the border, revelled in each other's hospitality, visited the villages and houses they had to leave during partition, and enjoyed some closely contested cricket.

From 2003 to 2008, the two teams faced each other 46 times in international cricket, including the first-ever bowl-out in a T20 World Cup and the first-ever T20 World Cup final. So closely matched were the two teams that the head-to-head reads 21-19 in India's favour. The unthinkable was happening: cricket was being enjoyed for cricket and not the rancour of two sworn enemy nations that accompanied it.

It was too good to last. The thaw in the relations was temporary. Once again, multi-nation tournaments became the only place these two sides could meet. And in the 2010s, India began to pull away from Pakistan in terms of quality. It didn't matter now. By now this clash was the biggest cash cow in cricket.

Draws were manipulated to make sure India faced Pakistan at least once in a tournament. The advent of social media brought back the nastiness to the forefront. Even the broadcasters and traditional media became parties to it. The reactions to results – both bragging of the winning country and the abuse the losing country directed at its own players – became too ugly for the cricket matches to be palatable.

On the field, though, the players refused to keep up the façade and stopped hiding their friendliness once the match got over. Even the fans at the stadiums danced together to Pasuri, a pop song that actually brought the two countries – especially their expats – together. The re-emergence of a pace attack in the late 2010s made Pakistan a force to reckon with, giving the cricket the edge that had started to go missing.

It is such a shame that when the two teams are getting closer to being evenly matched the relations between the two countries are at a low point. Even the two cricket boards, who managed to co-operate and successfully co-host two World Cups, are warring.

With the general populations of the two countries leaning more right than they ever have, this is not the best of times for India to be playing Pakistan in front of more than 100,000 people in Ahmedabad. The fans that pass through the turnstiles, those who watch on TV, even those who are only waiting to stoke hatred, will do well to learn from Shaheen Shah Afridi and Jasprit Bumrah.

Two fast bowlers almost certain to go down as greats of the game, two fierce competitors once past the white line, and also two friends who offered and accepted congratulations when Bumrah became a father. Don't hold your breath, though, and prepare for the ugliest of reactions no matter which way the result of the match goes.