“It is hard to swallow. It is very difficult to digest.”
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Captain Shakib Al Hasan’s words after Bangladesh crashed to yet another defeat in the ongoing ICC World Cup reflected the emotions not just of his beleaguered team, but also the millions of fans back home and around the world.
The Tigers were expected to get back to winning ways against the Netherlands in the second match of the Saturday double-header, the first of the ongoing tournament to take place at Kolkata’s iconic Eden Gardens.
Bangladesh were the superior side – on paper at least. They are after all, are a Test-playing nation while Netherlands still compete in the Associate circuit, and sit six places below them in the ICC ODI rankings (as well as in the T20I ladder).
Plus Shakib Al Hasan’s side had the closest thing to home advantage on Indian soil in Kolkata with thousands of fans travelling across the border to cheer for the Tigers, resulting in Eden being splashed in green and red instead of the usual blue or purple for a change.
All of that, however, counted for little on the day with the Dutch underlining the fact that their shock victory over South Africa was by no means a one-off, and underestimating the Scott Edwards-led side comes with its own set of perils.
The Bangladeshi performance on Saturday had issues in all departments. But it was their batting, in particular, that let them down.
Tigers flop with the bat yet again
Bangladesh were off to a superb start with the ball after Dutch skipper Scott Edwards opted to bat, removing both openers cheaply to reduce them to 4/2. They would trigger another collapse later in the innings, this time grabbing the remaining five wickets for just 44 runs.
Netherlands, however, had still managed to post a competitive score on an Eden Gardens surface that wasn’t exactly a batting paradise like that of Delhi, thanks primarily to another captain’s knock from Edwards (68) and run-a-ball 41 from Wesley Barresi that helped them recover from the shaky start.
Bangladesh needed their openers to fire them to a strong start in their chase of 230 and a couple of solid partnerships, including one at the very beginning, would have put them in pole position to complete the job. Litton Das and Tanzid Hasan had clicked just one as an opening pair in the ongoing tournament, stitching a 93-run stand against India in Pune that would later help them cross 250, and would have been hoping for an encore at Eden.
Sadly, that was far from the case on Saturday with Das and Tanzid departing in quick succession after the latter got off to a promising start with a couple of boundaries, leaving Bangladesh in a precarious position at 19/2.
There still was hope though; Bangladesh, after all, had been reduced to 27/2 with both openers gone against Afghanistan before fifties from Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Najmul Hossain Shanto propelled them towards their only victory of the campaign so far.
Against Netherlands, however, Mehidy waged a lone battle in the form of a 40-ball 35 that contained five fours and a six, with the all-rounder the only one to cross 30 from his team. Against the Afghans, he had found ideal support from Shanto and the two ended up stitching a 97-run partnership for the third wicket that eventually sealed the deal in their chase of 157.
With wickets tumbling at the other end and some of the more recognised batters in their middle order departing for single-digit scores, the pressure was starting to take a toll on Miraz, whose free-flowing manner of collecting runs in the middle overs would have had opposition captain Edwards worried for a moment.
Netherlands heaved a sigh of relief when he became the first of Bas de Leede’s two wickets of the day, nicking a full delivery that wasn’t exactly in the driving arc straight to the keeper.
Paul van Meekeren’s dismissals of senior all-rounders Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim, the most recognised members of the Bangladesh squad, were just as crucial as de Leede getting rid of Miraz.
Shakib didn’t quite get the hang of the pitch that he knows all too well from his stint with the Kolkata Knight Riders, getting surprised by the extra bounce to get caught-behind while attempting a cut. Van Meekeren, who had earlier broken the budding third-wicket stand by dismissing Shanto, would then get rid of Mushfiqur with an inswinger that resulted in an inside edge onto timber.
Bangladesh had been reducing to 70/6 with van Meekeren, who would later be adjudged the Player of the Match for his career-best figures of 4/23, breaking the backbone of the Bangladeshi batting order.
Mahdmudullah, their leading run-scorer as well as only centurion in the ongoing tournament, would have backed himself to get his side as close to the target as possible, but even he was overwhelmed by the task of pulling the Tigers out of the pit that they managed to dig themselves into.
By the time he was dismissed by de Leede on 20, the game was as good as over. Grabbing the last two wickets appeared a mere formality, only delayed by a cameo from Mustafizur Rahman (20).
Bangladesh were hurtling out of the race to the semi-finals in any case, and Saturday’s result only confirmed it. But a maiden semi-final appearance or not, Bangladesh would have hoped to put up a semblance of a fight in the remainder of their campaign and bow out with their heads held high.
Unfortunately for them, the current World Cup campaign already appears their worst since they made their debut in 1999, even taking into account their winless run in 2003. Skipper Shakib confirmed the same after the match.
You can say that without any doubt,” Shakib said when asked if this was their worst World Cup outing ever.
“I don’t have an answer as to why we played this way. We were sloppy in the field. We bowled brilliantly. We haven’t batted the way we can bat throughout the tournament. It is a big concern. Today was another day when we totally gave the Dutch the two points,” added the star all-rounder.
from Firstpost Sports Latest News https://ift.tt/JVskcny
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