Last week, the weather of Bangladesh was whimsical. The brightness of the sun was overshadowed by dark cloud and heavens opened up soon to prolong its blessing and gift utmost misery to the people of Dhaka and Bangladesh. This land of music and poems, at the moment, is affected by flood. The whims of this year’s weather seemed full of actions: storm, heavy shower, drizzles, thunder storm and then exhausting heat. The whims of mother nature put a question mark on the first Test at Mirpur between Bangladesh and Australia. Thankfully, the weather was not action packed, but to the satisfaction of an ardent cricket follower, more actions took centre stage at the home of Bangladesh cricket under the bright sun.
Pat Cummins sets the tempo
The mantra to counter the guile of Australian pacers was to
get behind the line of the ball and play the ball late on the back foot. With
the new ball, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins are notorious customers. Josh
would pitch it on the length and back of a length consistently to keep the
batters guessing while Cummins would bang it short, full and straight on an
immaculate line to script quick wickets.
Pat Cummins set the stage on fire with his aggression by
nailing three Bangladeshi batsmen. But as a matter of fact, Soumya and Imrul
Kayes, in my opinion, threw their wickets away. If you cannot stay behind the
line and attempt to poke and play the wrong shots from body, you should not
dream of batting higher in Test cricket. Soumya poked while Kayes played a
useless shot. Meanwhile, Sabbir Rahman was outfoxed by a fuller length at pace
which kissed the edge, confirmed by television umpire, left the hosts reeling
at 10 for 3.
The Test series needed a cracking start and Cummins’
aggressive intent provided the ideal ingradient.
Shakib and Tamim added entertainment
If Cummins’ aggression extended further, it would not have
been ideal for Test cricket to uleash its counterattacking nature and script
entertainment.
Three down and only ten runs on the board. Two best friends,
Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan were at the crease and thought of gifting some
counterattacking punch back to Australian aggression. Both of them are not big fans of entering into
the shell but like Tele Santana’s Brazil, they relish dishing out their
attacking instincts and let the opposition captain switch to a defensive mode.
Tamim, sqaured up by Hazlewood in the previous overs, pulled
a short one from Josh in front of square to sent Shakib the signal about his
intentions. In the next over, Shakib’s blade flashed at Cummin’s short and wide
delivery. Steve Smith decided to engage Nathan Lyon in the seventh over, which
I think was not an ideal move when your new ball pair is on a killer mood. Lyon
was greeted by a six over extra-cover from Tamim.
Tamim curbed his aggressive instincts for a brief period and
provided the perfect foil to Shakib’s counterattack. Shakib showed everyone how
to attack by relying on perfect technique: correct back lift, always behind the
line of the ball, emphasize on back foot stroke-play, ability to disturb the
length by using the feet more and never shy to leave the ball when it was
needed. And then, there was that getting on top of the bounce which helped
Shakib pace his innings well. At the other end, Tamim hardly used the bat
horizontally, but kept it straight more often and his decisive footwork
maneuvered the innings very well.
The fourth wicket stand between Shakib and Tamim pulled
Bangladesh out of the muddy waters. Flurry of eye-catching strokes and towering
sixes added the much-needed entertainment of the day.
Australia’s tactical come back
The sun was shining brightly. The Australian captain and his
men were sweating hard and witnessed a great resuscitation. But they were not in
any mood to let it be a one way traffic. Smith’s brain continued to work
actively and study the tiny details of Tamim and Shakib’s partnership. Their
back foot stroke-play was astute and by pitching it up he was unable to make
them drive. The best way would be to trigger boredom in any of the batsmen’s
mind by making them playing more on the back foot.
Smith went for the Hazlewood and Glenn Maxwell combination
for a breakthrough.
Hazlewood applied pressure and Maxwell provided the comfort
by kept on pitching it around middle and
off on a length which Tamim kept on playing on the back foot. The idea was to
invite reluctant approach in any one of them. Maxwell pitched one to bounce
stiffly which Tamim attempted to strike with a horizontal bat, an attempt which
he was not making previously. Australia knew at any point Tamim would do such
and he did it as, Maxwell’s gifted comfort zone made Tamim reluctant.
The 155-run partnership came to an end and whenever you give
Australia an opportunity to bounce back, they won’t relax at all. The last five
wickets fell for just 72 runs.
An action packed drama cannot just rely on a one way
traffic.
There has to have a come back and Australia know the tactics
of bouncing back.
Roar of the Tigers in twilight
Steve Smith led his team off the field with a smile on his face
but he and his men had no idea about the sort of action Shakib Al Hasan and
Mehedi Hasan Miraz would provide to fulfill the satisfaction of an ardent
follower of Test cricket.
Shakib and Mehedi made the ball jump, turn and drift a lot
to script fear on the faces of Australian top order batsmen. David Warner was
outclassed by a Miraz-faster-delivery while Shakib left Lyon clueless with one
of his accurate one which moves back in after landing. Usman Khawaja was a
comical figure in the twilight of Mirpur.
Australia ended the day with 18 for 3 on the scoreboard.
Test cricket is beautiful and these days, Bangladesh can
guarantee you an action packed day!
Note: This article has been published at Cricketsoccer on 27/08/2017 An action packed day
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
Note: This article has been published at Cricketsoccer on 27/08/2017 An action packed day
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
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