Tigers out, but not down

Bangladesh's ICC World Cup campaign ended with a 109–run defeat in the quarterfinals at the hands of India at Melbourne Cricket Ground yesterday. Riding on opener Rohit Sharma's brilliant 126-ball 137, helped by a favourable decision from umpire Aleem Dar, the defending champions sailed into the semifinals in a much-hyped match following the Tigers' impressive run in the tournament.

Bangladesh's dream run ended in a forlorn way and left many searching for answers to why the Mashrafe Bin Mortaza-led team suddenly lost their composure and why they so meekly surrendered the chase of 303; especially as their batting was nowhere near the level of their previous performances which ultimately saw them suffer a heavy defeat.

Perhaps it was the nerves of competing in their first knockout match on the World stage. But the controversies which for sure will continue for many more days was whether an umpiring error helped Rohit to score his first World Cup hundred and denied the Tigers from seizing momentum at a crucial stage or whether inform Mahmudullah Riyad was a bit unlucky when he was given out in dubious circumstances.                  

The first mistake was made when Bangladesh were looking to take control of the match. Imrul Kayes came forward from deep and claimed a catch off Rohit, but to their horror the Tigers saw square-leg umpire Aleem Dar had called a no-ball for the delivery's excessive height. Replays showed the batsman had met the waist-high ball well in front of his normal stance as the ball was on its way down, but the decision was not referred so it was not reversed.

On the other hand, when Shikhar Dhawan caught Riyad's lofted shot in his second attempt, whether his left-leg disturbed the rope or not remained a big question, as replays proved inconclusive. Another flashpoint was when a confident lbw shout from Mashrafe against Suresh Raina failed to convince Ian Gould and was ruled out even after a review. Raina played his part after his hundred in the last game with a 57-ball 65. And these unseemly issues took centre stage of discussions despite India's comfortable victory in the end.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board has taken these misgivings seriously and taken the matter to the ICC with an official complaint.

In the end however, Bangladesh failed to live up to the expectations in front of 51,000 spectators at the big bowl and the MCG was at the crux of both of their largest defeats in this World Cup, against India and Sri Lanka, in the group stages.

Sharma and Dhawan provided a solid platform after India skipper MS Dhoni decided to bat with the threat of a late shower looming, before Shakib Al Hasan provided a much-needed breakthrough in the 17th over to send Dhawan back to the dressing room, ending a 75-run partnership. Rubel Hossain followed up by claiming the prized wicket of Virat Kohli in the next over as the Tigers began to claw their way back into the game.

Taskin Ahmed then dismissed Ajinkya Rahane to bring a cock-a-hoop celebration with his skipper Mashrafe as India looked in some trouble at 115 for 3, but Raina joined Sharma, who also offered a return catch to Nasir Hossain when the right-hander was on 24, to snatch the initiative with a dominant 122-run fourth-wicket stand. India however had a calculative batting effort all through their innings to pass the 300-mark and the defensive bowling from Bangladesh and poor fielding also helped them keep their score ticking.

The anticipated rain finally came, stopping the match when India were 186-3 in 38.1 overs, but play resumed after a 10-minute recess and ended without any further intervention from Mother Nature.

No team successfully chased down more than 300 runs at MCG, so the writing was on the wall for Bangladesh after India finished at 302-6 in 50 overs, but the lacklustre batting from the Tigers surprised everyone, especially as they established themselves as a good batting unit throughout the tournament.

Tamim Iqbal hit some boundaries but Bangladesh didn't get the required start from their openers while the middle-order, after Mahmudullah was dismissed, batted without any purpose against the Indian bowlers, who bowled in right areas and were supported by their electrifying fielding.

In the end, the Tigers' dream turned into a nightmare as they went down by over a hundred runs, but they can still come back home with their heads held high after fulfilling their dream of progressing into uncharted territory, the knockout stages of the World Cup, for the first time in Bangladesh's cricketing history.