Sri lanka v Bangladesh - The same mistakes were repeated once again!

The Colombo Test has gone in favour of Sri Lanka. It’s nothing surprising though as they were expected to win the series. But what they didn’t expect was a competitive Bangladeshi display. In the previous meetings, the Lankans used to maul us brutally. But this time around the Tigers did put up brave efforts to make the Lankans run for their money.

At Colombo, till the fourth day morning, you still weren’t sure on which side the game going to shift its balance. Bangladesh’s performance had been so spirited that it raised the possibilities of a tight finish and even a Bangladesh win. But sadly, again, our boys squandered an opportunity to create history. The Test match could have been written in letters of gold in the history of Bangladesh cricket but it was not be. It remained as another wasted opportunity.

Any defeat crops up from quite a few factors and Bangladesh’s defeat at Colombo had not been without them. There had been quite a few factors in Colombo involved which were repeated again like the past.

1. Panic becomes contagious easily:

Bangladeshi batsmen were looking good and solid in the third day afternoon. Jahurul Islam along with Mominul was expected to end the day without any more damage. Jahurul was patient and composed enough. But suddenly, Jahurul’s brain exploded. From nowhere he dished out a wild effort to charge down the wicket against Herath which resulted in a needless loss of wicket in late afternoon. That one rush of adrenaline had disturbed the momentum and set panic in the batting line up from which our batsmen never recovered. It became contagious and thus our batsmen folded cheaply without being able to put up a fighting target for the Lankans. Even our bowlers looked down and seemed to have been affected by such panic. It’s not the first time that such panic disorder has attacked our batters but time and again it has grabbed them in an ugly manner to spoil the party. Captain Mushfiq and coach Jurgensen must work on this. The sound momentum must not slide due to panic disorder and learning to bring the derailed train back on track should be taken into account.

2. Picking the bowlers without realizing our actual strength:

Other than Mashrafe Bin Mortaza we still haven’t produced quality pace bowlers. As a matter of fact, pace bowlers have never been our actual strength. It has been our spinners, especially the left-arm spinners, who have always been highly influential for us. So in that case, picking up three seamers at Colombo was a bad pick and picking a lethargic and off-mood-type-bowling-action-bowler Robiul Islam who continuously flirted with his front-foot while pitching it on the popping crease had been the worst pick. Leaving a quality left-arm spinner like Abdur Razzak in the dressing room simply made no sense. The Colombo track had been a two-paced deck where pace bowlers never enjoyed conventional swing but the tricky bounce and sharp turn that made batting difficult. In that sense, a left-arm spinner would have struck gold. Herath proved with his guile how effective left-spinners could be on this Colombo track. Gazi simply needed a partner to aid him. But he was not provided with that. So, in the future, it’s very important for Mushfiq and the coach to realize Bangladesh’s actual strength and surface a XI accordingly.

3. Too much dependency on boundary-based batting:

Our batsmen are free-flowing stroke makers. They enjoy hitting the ball and love to watch the ball hitting boundary ropes more often. Good attacking intentions, but they don’t count in all circumstances. When the circumstances are quite tough then it’s wise to mute this aggressive mood and cash on singles and couples. At Colombo, on that two-paced deck and sluggish outfield, Bangladeshis were needed to apply such tactic. I found blaming the sluggish outfield a bit lame. While playing Test cricket, you will never be gifted with easy options. You need to conquer those tiny battles. Maneuvering the strike on a regular basis rather than being too dependent on boundaries could have added more runs to the total. Seeking for more boundaries on such a track can only script transient moments of super-sonic glory but those glories loses its way in the course of time. Boundary-based batting in Test cricket is an old disease amongst our batsmen. Sadly, it has still remained untreated. The regular rotation of strikes and more dependency on singles and couples should be habituated amongst our batsmen in the near future.

4. Not picking a player on merit:

 Watching Robiul Islam bowling was like having an ischemic stroke repeatedly. With such a pathetic action and poor rhythm how can he get selected remains a moot question! On the domestic circuit there have been quite a few good performers and way better than Robiul. Even in first-class cricket Robiul doesn’t even qualify to play let alone playing in a Test side. Selecting a player in Test cricket should be on merit and this is not happening in our cricket on a regular basis. The selectors must be cautious from now on.

In the end, the Tigers have lost to a better team and as an optimist I can only remain confident with our boys for the better outcomes – regular victories -  in times to come. But the cherished victories will never come if our boys keep on repeating the same mistakes again and again. The candle of hope will be blown out by the gusty wind full of mistakes.

Thank You
Faisal Caesar