True that Bangladesh could not live up to dream of is millions of adoring fans not being able to feature among the top four of World Cup 2019. But whatever they achieved was no less for making Bangladesh proud. The way they played earned unqualified appreciation from many champions of World Cricket. Three times in 8 matches Bangladesh scored over 300 winning twice and going down fighting in the other. Twice they went close to 300.
Shakib Al Hasan, the top all rounder of all formats made World Cup 2019 of his won scoring 6,006 runs with two centuries and 5 fifties. Taking 11 wickets along with it he set a new milestone of all round performance in World cup. Mustafiz ( the Fizz) with 20 wickets including two 5 wickets haul back to back against India and Pakistan ranked second among wicket takers only behind Mitchell Starc of Australia. Mohammad Saifuddin emerged as a potential great all rounder.
Bangladesh lost close matches against New Zealand and India. Did not look at all disgraced chasing high scores of England and Australia. Possibly if they could take opportunities at crunch time Bangladesh could even win those matches. These are all part of cricket. Teams qualifying for semi finals all had to toil and sweat against Bangladesh. We must not have any cause of concern. Every player put in their best. Unfortunately for some their lean form did not leave them. The lessons learnt from the world cup should serve Bangladesh well for bouncing back with extensive home works done.
Great Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar described Bangladesh presenting a new brand to world cricket. According to him this Bangladesh was the best he had seen. Sourav Ganguly, Wasim Akram, Ian Bishop all were full praise of Bangladesh. Starting brilliantly winning against one of top teams of world cricket South Africa, Bangladesh matched well against New Zealand, Australia and India. With a slice of lady luck they could win at least two of the three matches. Chasing a huge score 321 of West Indies Bangladesh cruised home scoring 322/3. Bangladesh beat Afghanistan quite comfortably. Luck did not go their way again against Sri Lanka. Rain ruined match forced them splitting points.
Till their last match against Pakistan, Bangladesh had theoretical possibility for squeezing into top four. But this was the only match which Bangladesh conceded without fight. They finished 8th among the 10 teams with 7 points from 9 matches. The points table did not reflect the entertaining cricket Bangladesh played. They gave almost all the title chasers scare. World now knows Bangladesh is a team which can rock and roll any team on the sweet merry way.
Summary of Bangladesh Matches:
Bangladesh beat South Africa by 21 runs
Bangladesh 330/6 (Mushfiq 78, Shakib 75, Mahmudullah 46, Soumya 42, Imran Tahir 2/57, Andile Phehlukwayo 2/52, Chris Morris 2/73). South Africa 309/8 ( Faf du Plessis 62, Aiden Markram 45, JP Duminy 45 , R Vander Dussen 41 , Mustafiz 3/67, Saifuddin 2/57 )
Bangladesh shocked and rocked one of the tournament favorites. 330 was the highest score Bangladesh achieved in world cup. South Africa could not recover from this shock and ultimately could not qualify for the semi finals.
Bangladesh Went Down Fighting To New Zealand by 2 Wickets
Bangladesh 244 All Out (Shakib 64, Saifuddin 29, Mithun 26, Soumya 25, Tamim 24, Mahmudullah 20, Mushfiq 19, Mat Henry 4/47, T Boult 2/44). New Zealand 248/8 (Ross Taylor 82, Kane Williamson 40, Mosaddek 2/33, Saifuddin 2/41, Shakib 2/47, Miraj 2/47)
Shakib was again brilliant with the bat. As many as 6 batsmen got start but could not kick on. 244 against powerful New Zealand batting was not easy defending. Yet Bangladesh achieved early break through. Kiwi openers went sent back in the first power play when they were chasing. They were 2/55 in 10th over. Mushfiq unfortunately missed an easy opportunity of run out of Williamson. The third wicket pair of Williamson and Taylor produced in valuable 105 runs. Yet Bangladesh roared back when Miraj and Saifuddin took some quick wickets. But Bangladesh did not posses any fast bowler like Malinga, Satrc or Bumrah knocking out the tail. New Zealand scrapped unhurt winning by 2 wickets.
Power Hitters of England Rocked Bangladesh
Bangladesh Was Not Disgraced Even with 106 runs defeat
England 386/6 (J Roy 153, J Buttler 64, J Bairstow 51, E Morgan 35, Miraj 2/67, Saifuddin 2/71). Bangladesh 280 All out ( Shakib 121, Mushfiq 44, Mahmudullah 28, Mosaddek 26 , B Stokes 3/23, J Archer 3/29 , M Wood 2/52 )
Inform England achieved 7th consecutive score of 300 plus in ODI. In their mammoth total of 386/6 England struck twice the numbers of sixes they ever scored in World Cup. Their flamboyant opener Roy scored 153, Buttler and Bairstow also blasted half centuries. Bangladesh did not buckle down. Brilliant Shakib scored a fiery 121. Mushfiq, Mahmudullah and Mosaddek also had starts. Any of them could give company with Shakib Bangladesh could go closer. Even then 280 against a very strong English attack was no mere achievement.
Bangladesh Scaled Mount Everest against West Indies Winning by 7 wickets
West Indies 321 /8 ( Shai Hope 96, Elvin Lewis 70, Shimron Hetmeyer 50 , Jason Holder 33, Mustafiz 3/59, Saifuddin 3/72) . Bangladesh 322 /3 (Shakib 124*, Liton 94, Tamim 48, Soumya 29)
Bangladesh attracted the attention of the cricket world through brilliantly chased a 300 plus score and a target of 322 set by West Indies. Shakib again produced a superlative unbeaten knock of 124. This time Liton getting opportunity for the first time in WC 2019 blasted 94. Tamim and Soumya also contributed. It was a great win of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh went down fighting against Australia by 48 Runs
Australia 381/5 (David Warner 166, Usman Khawaja 89, A Flinch 66, Glen Maxwell 32, Soumya 3/58). Bangladesh 333/8 (Mushfiq 102, Mahmudullah 69, Tamim 62, Shakib 41, Stoinis 2/54, Starc 2/55, Coulter Nile 2/59 )
Australian blaster Dave Warner (116) and UsmanKhawaja( 89) led Australian rally to a massive 381/5. Bangladesh could peg them down if Sabbir could grab the opportunity Flinch offered very early. But anyway Bangladesh did not die wondering and fought till the last. Mushfiq scored a wonder 102. Mahmudullah (69) and Tamim (62) also contributed. Scoring 333 while chasing 382 for a win against very strong Australian attack was no joke. Bangladesh was glorified in defeat.
Bangladesh Split Points with Sri Lanka in rain Ruined Match:
In prolific form Bangladesh possibly was unlucky as they shared points. Two possible points for Bangladesh could be very useful at that stage.
Bangladesh Rolled Over Afghanistan by 62 Runs
Bangladesh 262/7(Mushfiq 83, Shakib 51, Tamim 36, Mosaddek 35, Mahmudullah 27, Mujeeb Ur Rahman 3/ 39, Gulbadin Naib 2/56) Afghanistan 200 All Out ( Samiuallh Sinwari 49, Gulbadin Naib 47, Ramta Shah 24 , Nazibullah Zadran 24,Shakib 5/29, Mustafiz 2/32 )
In Mujeeb, Rashid and Nabi Afghanistan had 3 world class spinners. They almost shocked India and Pakistan. Many would say they could have won both the matches with a little bit of luck. But Bangladesh batted brilliantly against Afghan spinners. Mushfiq (102) and Shakib (51) looked gorgeous. When Afghanistan batted brilliant Shakib bowled like a panther uncoiling. His 5/29 was his best in World cup. He set a new milestone scoring half century and taking 5 wickets in the same match. Bangladesh with 7 points in 6 matches were looking good for a semi final spot at this stage.
Bangladesh Went Down Fighting Against India by 28 Runs
India 314/9 ( Rohit Sharma 104, KL Rahul 77, Rishab Pant 48 , MS Dhoni 35 , Mustafiz 5/59) Bangladesh 286 All Out ( Shakib 66, Saifuddin 51, Sabbir 36, Soumya 33, Tamim 22, Liton 22 , Bumrah 4/55 , H Pandya 3/66)
This was a must win game for Bangladesh. Losing the toss was a big set back. Tamim dropped prolific Rohit early on 9 off the bowling of Mustafiz. He and Rahualranked up 180 runs opening partnership. Rohit went on scoring yet another century (104), Rahul scored 77. Mustafiz bounced back with 5/59 restricted India to 314/9. At one stage India looked like racing to 400. Bangladesh batted with guts and at different stages of the match looked like winning. Set batsmen losing patience threw away their wickets till Saifuddin with a brilliant 51 not out almost took them home. Bangladesh finally could reach within 28 runs for the win. India got rocked. Bangladesh was knocked out of the semi final
Bangladesh Lost Big By 94 Runs against Pakistan
Pakistan 315/9 ( ImamUlHaq 100, Babar Aazm 96 , ImadWasim 43, Mohammad Hafiz 27 , Mustafiz 5/75 , Saifuddin 3/77 ) Bangladesh 221 All Out ( Shakib 64 , Liton 32 , Mahmudullah 29 , Shaheen Shah Afridi 6/33 , Shadab Khan 2/59)
Bangladesh had to play for pride. Pakistan had to win by over 300 runs margin to walk into semi finals. Bangladesh lost some pride. Pakistan winning by 94 runs equaled points (11) with New Zealand but their inferior run rate shut the door for them. This match Bangladesh neither batted well, nor bowled or fielded well except Mustafiz getting another 5 wickets haul proving a point that he is among the best in the business.
If one logically analyzes Bangladesh performance in WC 2019 one must realize that all four teams qualifying for the semi finals have far better cricket infrastructure, more organized domestic cricket, excellent facilities for talent hunting and grooming in much planned manner. All of them have cricket run by professional units. Still Bangladesh played exceptionally well. Batting wise Bangladesh was as good as any team. Bangladesh lacked genuine fast bowlers who could take wickets in the first power play. Another left arm spinner to pair with Shakib and a quality wrist spinner were missing. Bangladesh fielded poorly with important catches missed. Key players like Mashrafe and Tamim did not perform. But even after all these Team Tigers performed wonderfully well. It could be better. Bangladesh definitely did not let us down.
Bangladesh Prime Minister a keen follower of cricket rightly said no one should criticize players unnecessarily.
BDST: 1215 HRS, JULY 9, 2019
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