Cricket World Cup 2019: West Indies being West Indies; colourful, entertaining and energetic; but sense and sensibility needed as well

4 days, 4 thrilling encounters! The conquest at Manchester reached to an epic level when Brathwaite decided to take desperate measures. But West Indies being West Indies. A bit more sense would have bailed them out….

We experienced a week during the ongoing World Cup, when nothing was happening due to rain. Some mouth-watering contests were getting washed out leaving the fans and critics bemused. We can’t control the whims of weather, but of course, we can take necessary steps to prevent matches from meeting such a sad end.

 “We put men on the moon, so why can't we have a reserve day, when actually this tournament is a long tournament”, Steve Rhodes asked International Cricket Council at the press conference, when weather forced Bangladesh to split points against Sri Lanka – a match, which the Tigers could have won. India and Pakistan experienced the same frustrations as the World Cup started to become an event, which is controlled by the whims of weather.

But after a lull, came the days, when each and everyone fell in love with 50-over cricket, yet again.

4 days, 4 thrillers!

The Cricket World Cup 2019 burst into life.   

In a do or die encounter against New Zealand, South Africa, yet again, crumbled under pressure. The Sri Lankan Lions would come from nowhere to shock England in a low-scoring thriller at Trent Bridge, while the minnows Afghanistan; would give mighty India the scare, for which they were not even prepared for. In a tense last over, Mohammed Shami bagged a hat-trick to calm the Indian nerves and while the fans were recovering from the stress of that heart-racing encounter at Southampton, New Zealand and West Indies would gift them a wealth of stress at a moment, when the match was all but lost.

At 164 for 7, the West Indian hopes not only diminished but the damp squib amid the thrilling encounters in the past few days, actually was not fitting appropriately. The focus shifted to Sao Paolo, where the Samba Boys were thrashing Peru. It was the match, where Brazil desperately needed to reply to the boos of fans back in Salvador, Bahia. And they did it in style – agility, aggression and fluid football were unleashed as the men in yellow shorts kept on scoring goals after goals.

But someone named Carlos Brathwaite did not stop hitting the ball the West Indian way.

Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor saved New Zealand batting order yet again to post a competitive total. The West Indian reply was like Twenty20 – as if they were given the task to finish in 15 to 20 overs. Chris Gayle and Shimron Hetmyer hardly moved their feet at the crease while smothering those humungous sixes all over the park. Their intention was to deal with big boundaries rather than rotating the strike – a good ploy in the shortest formats of the game, but in longer formats, they always give the opposition an opportunity to cash in.

The New Zealand bowlers did not have to think much when West Indian batters threw away their wickets while going big.

But it is this intention to hit-everything-on-your-way; scripted one of the epic matches and memorable hundreds in the history of World Cup.

In a crazy-but-brutal-hitting in the late order, where the ball went this way and that from top edges to falt-batted swipes, Brathwaite ran Williamson and his men for their money as the game to a stage where West Indies needed 8 runs off just 12 balls. When Sheldon Cottrell was dismissed by Lockie Ferguson in the 45th over, West Indies were still 47 runs short and the novice-with-the-bat Oshane Thomas joined him.

Brathwaite would face the bulk of the deliveries in the last five overs. In the 48th over, he would take Matt Henry to the cleaners, milking 25 runs in one over – it was the hitting of highest quality as if a Giant from the stories of Arabian Nights was devouring his brutishly. Even a miscued pull, dragged from outside off, disappeared in the deep square leg fence.  Full-length, good-length, low-full-toss or short-of-length at pace or reducing the pace – nothing mattered.         

Brathwaite had changed the scenario in just 3 overs. I repeat, just three overs!

Let the buzz in Sao Paolo gain momentum, Manchester deserves more attention than ever.

A historic moment was all set to take place!

The ever calm and composed Williamson kept on discussing with his bowlers on which length they should bowl and how to set the field. Already, Brathwaite has taken him to a position, where you have no idea left to execute. But still, Willaimson is not someone to give up. He and his team have been riding on luck since that meeting against Bangladesh at the Oval, but to exploit that slice of luck, you need to plan accordingly.

Willaimson threw the ball to Jimmy Nesham and adjusted his field by keeping more men at deep on the onside. The onside field from that position was a bit larger than any other corners of the field and Brathwaite’s habit of clearing the distance through midwicket, square leg and long on prompted Kane to stack the onside field. Williamson sensed, Brathwaite would not go for strike-rotation, but finish things off with one single-big-hit.

Neesham kept the line in-and-around offside. Neesham’s first ball was short outside off from a short of length, which Brathwaite tapped to extra-cover – the field who was brought inside along with mid-off to stop singles and prompt Brathwaite to commit a false stroke. The next delivery was similar but with a reduction in pace. Brathwaite went to pull but failed. It would have been better if he played through offside finely for a single or couple.

But Brathwaite is a West Indian and he would play his way. The next ball was certainly pulled towards midwicket for a couple as he celebrated a marvellous hundred. Neesham decides to go for a legcutter, a bit wide, from short of a length and deceived Brathwaite. Both the bowler and batsman looked towards umpire thinking of whether it was called a wide or not.

To the satisfaction of Neesham the umpires did not call it a wide, but it made Brathwaite restless. He would attempt another pull shot against a short ball, but at long on, Trent Boult would keep his calm to grab the catch. Heartbreak for Brathwaite. He went down on his knees. Neesham soaked up the pressure like a sponge. Taylor and Willaimson would console Brathwaite, like Grant Elliot and Kiwis did to Dale Steyn four years ago. The spirit of cricket was alive and kicking, but West Indies and Brathwaite would not forget this missed opportunity.

So close yet, so far!

Inches away from glory!

The story could have been different, had Brathwaite and other West Indian batters not only depended on clean-hitting but strike-rotation as well. They lost by just five runs and those five runs could have been achieved by giving a bit more focus on fetching singles and couples.         

Note: This article has been published at Cricketsoccer on 23/06/2019 West Indies being West Indies; colourful, entertaining and energetic; but sense and sensibility needed as well

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

Cricket World Cup 2019: Shakib and Liton exhibit determination, Bangladesh start to fly again!

What a marvelous victory for Bangladesh! The bat of Shakib and Liton overcame the West Indian threat to keep the hopes of Tigers alive in this tournament……

Over the past few days, the weather in Dhaka has been exhausting. Life has come to a standstill due to the hot and humid weather. While rain was taking the sheen-off the World Cup in England, people in Bangladesh and Dhaka were begging for rain to the Almighty. But it seemed, the Almighty had tested the patience of Bangladeshis for a while as He was waiting to gift them rain on a very special occasion.

The rain in England had taken a break and finally, fans could enjoy some cricket. Somewhere in Taunton, the sun was shining brightly and the passionate fans of Bangladesh cricket team gathered in numbers to greet their beloved boys, who would face the West Indies in a very important match. Obviously, the match was important. After two back to back defeats, the existence of Tigers came under threat.  But given their brilliant record against the Caribbeans in recent past, they did have a great chance to bounce back.

And they did bounce back!

On a sun-kissed morning at Taunton, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza won the toss and decided to field first. Well, given the nature of the deck and Pakistan’s failed-chase against Australia the other day, perhaps, it was not the ideal decision. The track at Taunton would become slow and low with the progression of day and having the depth and quality in spin department, batting first might have been the best option. Moreover, the teams batting first enjoyed more successes in this tournament.

Mashrafe’s decision to field first seemed to be a wrong one when the West Indian batters went all guns blazing at the end of middle overs and start of third powerplay. Still, Bangladesh did not panic, but fielded extremely well and tried their level best to tighten up the screw so that the West Indian batters could not surpass more than 350.

Bangladesh succeeded in keeping West Indian batsmen quiet in the slog overs. But chasing a total of 320-plus against the likes of Gabriel, Thomas, Cottrell, and Holder would never be an easy task. At the other hand, the mindset of Bangladesh batsmen have changed a lot. Especially, their successes against West Indies have instilled the belief that, no matter what challenges the Caribbeans throw at them, the Tigers would overcome it in flying colours.

The invincible Shakib Al Hasan

Despite a powerful start from Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar, Bangladesh lost their way after the fall of Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim. Liton Kumar Das emerged in the scene – a batsman, ignored more often and was subjected to ugly trolls in social media, to partner Shakib Al Hasan, who was batting at another level as if someone invincible has arrived from the heavens to prove, impossible is nothing.

Indeed, impossible is nothing. For someone like Shakib, dreaming big and chasing that dream is a day to day habit. One of the characteristics of a flawed genius is that they dare to explore the forest engulfed by fire. Even if the risk of burning into ashes remains, still they would dare to do that. While the rest would tag them as a crazy idiot and write them off, the flawed genius conquers the fearsome flames of fire. And returns to leave other stunned. This is what Shakib is all about. In fact, this has been the story of number 1 all-rounder in the planet. He is the Cristiano Ronaldo of modern day cricket. He loves doing things his way – the crazy-but-stylish-way – the Shakib way; a style, which is so similar to Cristiano.

He was airborne when the ball pitched short. If it was pitched up, he would pivot on the back foot early to  fetch runs through the gaps. He would whack the snoters powerfully through midwicket – no other batsmen in the team could get on top of bounce better than Shakib. Oh yes, he executed some classic and well-timed shots through the V and covers like an artists – those wrists and forearms are like Thor, but wrapped in silk.

The class of Liton Kumar Das

Anyone batting with him at the other end, would love to emulate the Cristiano of Bangladesh cricket. And the kind of talent and skill Liton possess, another masterclass was expected. The boy delivered his best, when Bangladesh needed it most.

Liton’s bat answered his critics.

His authority over backfoot stroke-play was evident against South Africa four years ago, when he hooked a Rabada short-ball for six at long leg. That was a moment of genius. Not many have seen a Bangladeshi batsman to hook like that. Such a confident stroke-play on the back foot could be seen at Taunton where he thrashed Shannon Gabriel with a rare disdain – throw cannonballs at me, I will send them to the stratosphere – this was the kind of attitude Liton displayed as his bat scripted a swashbuckling knock of 94 off just 69 balls.

At the other end, Shakib completed his second successive hundred of the tournament – no sixes were hit, but 16 fours and outstanding strike-rotation glorified his knock. The partnership of 189 for the fourth wicket remained firm as Bangladesh became the first ever side in history of World Cup to successfully chase a target of 300-plus and achieve over 50+ balls to spare!

As Shakib and Liton were steering Bangladesh home safely, dark clouds started to gather over Dhaka. We could listen to the roar of sky as if the Tigers were roaring. The heavens opened as rain poured heavily to cool things off in Dhaka. People in Dhaka greeted the rain and celebrated the astonishing victory along with the blessings of Almighty.

Certainly, the Almighty keeps the best gifts for special occasions!

Note: This article has been published at Cricketsoccer on 17/06/2019 Shakib and Liton exhibit determination, Bangladesh start to fly again!

Thank You

Faisal Caesar  

Cricket World Cup 2019: Mashrafe Bin Mortaza needs to buck up!

England have scripted a comprehensive victory against Bangladesh and back to back defeats would obviously hamper the confidence of the Tigers. Now, it's time for Mashrafe Bin Mortaza to lead from the front. He is having a very mediocre tournament by his standards and it is time for Mash to buck up!

England have a revolution in the 50-over format since last World Cup down-under. Led by Eoin Morgan England shrugged off their defensive approach in Oneday International (ODI) Cricket and embraced the fearless brand, which was absent more often since they started off their journey in limited-overs format. In the past, they did win matches, but all those used to get overshadowed by some disgraceful defeats. But England changed and thankfully they changed into a team, which can crush any opposition ruthlessly. Not surprisingly, they are the number 1 team in the ICC ODI rankings.

Obviously, before facing England, a team, which rank 7th in the current ICC ODI rankings, would not even fancy themselves of beating them. But mind you, that number 7 team has a good track against England in the World Cups. England beat them in 2007 but in the next two editions – 2015 and 2019, Bangladesh had overcome the English threat and in Australia, they knocked them out of the tournament. Even three years ago, they had a very fighting ODI series and drew the Test series at their own backyard. Moreover, keeping in mind the recent improvement of Tigers, one cannot write off Bangladesh so easily.

Cardiff was in a festive mood triggered by the passionate Bangladeshi fans, but in the end, it was England who scripted a comprehensive victory. That defeat against Pakistan at Trent Bridge hurt and such a dominating victory against one of the Giant Killers of the tournament is a huge boost for the English morale.

Meanwhile, after that marvelous win against South Africa and the close shave against New Zealand at the Oval, Bangladesh were expected to pose a threat. But that killer instinct was hugely absent among the Tigers. The century of Shakib Al Hasan had been the only bright spot in a dismal display. While the rest seemed a bit down. Especially, the performance of Bangladesh skipper, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza has been below-par so far.

In this particular tournament, Mash’s bowling has been ordinary.

Mashrafe’s toothless bowling

Not so long ago, Mash’s follow through set up his bowling, but it is noticed, he is not enjoying the same follow through in this tournament. And thus, he is struggling to put the ball on the slot more often and ends up delivering too short and juicy half-volleys. Neither the bowling arm is straighter enough like the past nor the seam remains in a very good position. While delivery, his head is also not remaining in the ideal position.  Moreover, he has gained weight, and perhaps, this is not helping him at all. A bowling average of 55.50 in ODIs this year tell us the poor state of Mash.

In the match against South Africa, Mash was very good as a captain despite his ordinary bowling display. Against New Zealand, alongside the toothless bowling display, loopholes in captaincy were evident and the story remained the same at Cardiff.

Ordinary captaincy

It was a good toss to win, and a tinge of green on the surface prompted Mash to bowl first.  But starting the first over with a spinner is nothing but a poor move by Mash. Even though, Cricviz says, “England struggle against spin early on. They have lost more wickets to spin in Overs 1-5 than any other team since World Cup 2015, at an average of just 14.40. Both Bairstow and Roy prefer pace,” but keeping in mind the life on the wicket, opening with a pacer would have been the ideal move.

Mustafizur Rahman and not Shakib would have been the ideal choice with the new ball.  

Fizz did show up to bowl when the ball started to lose its shine, but still at the start, he was extracting enough from the surface. As Cricviz says, “Mustafizur Rahman's cutters are a distinctive element of his game, and they have already made an impact in CWC 19. So far, 44% of his deliveries have deviated considerably off the surface, the highest percentage for any seamer in the competition”.

Many people are obsessed with the cutters of Fizz, but they do not even realize that he is well-equipped to use the new ball better than any pacers in Bangladesh cricket. From over the wicket, he get’s the natural angle to deliver the away swingers with an upright seam and a very good exponent of utilizing tracks with a tinge of green on it.  

Bangladesh had to wait for 19.1 overs to break a serene partnership between Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow. And guess what, it was a pacer and not spinner who gave the breakthrough. Meanwhile, Shakib was wasted with the new ball for 7 overs, which left Mash no option to operate his best weapon in the middle overs. England cashed in comfortably.  

At one point Mashrafe came back to bowl in middle overs from rough the wicket with no slip. Now, while bowling rough the wicket, automatically the chance for lbw diminishes and if the ploy is to kill the batsman with a different angle – deliveries moving away from the body, then, not engaging a slip does not make any sense.

Even if you don’t wish to operate with a slip, it would be better to keep a short third man rather than keeping him too deep.

Sadly, Mash applied a defensive strategy.

The runs leaked thick and fast as from the first powerplay to over 40, England piled up 176 runs at a brisk pace.

Where is Rubel Hossain?

What could have been the story, if someone like Rubel Hossain was playing! It is still not understood why someone like Saifuddin is preferred so much over a bowler, who is arguably the fastest among the Bangladeshi pacers. Many times, in these middle overs and at the death, Rubel has struck gold. Whereas, Saifuddin and his military medium-pace can hardly make Bangladesh smile. A wicket or two here and there can only justify his selection for the next matches,  but when the matter is about creating a sheer impact, Saif is nowhere near Rubel.

The strategy to attack England with spin at Cardiff where there was a chill in the air and life on the surface backfired. Shakib, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Mosaddek all leaked runs and most importantly Shakib proved costly in the end and went wicketless.

Mash knew what the weather and deck would be and thus his plan should have been to add more firepower to his pace attack. Except for Fizz, he had no options left. Neither Mash nor Saif could pose a threat.

Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Amir showed how England could be tamed by pace. Perhaps, Mash did not even bother to notice the unique clash at Trent Bridge. Had he studied that game, the strategy for today’s game would have been different.

The pressure is on Mashrafe

Two back to back defeats and automatically, none but Mashrafe Bin Mortaza should feel the pressure. In his illustrious career, many times he has made a comeback. And this time around, it is a must. He needs to lead from the front and for which, his bowling needs to fetch wickets like the past. Obviously, as a captain, he needs to be more proactive.

It’s time to buck up Mash!

Note: This article has been published on Cricketsoccer on 08/06/2019 Mashrafe Bin Mortaza needs to buck up!

Thank You
Faisal Caesar 

Cricket World Cup 2019: Well fought Bangladesh, but.....

In the span of two days, the Cricket World Cup 2019 has gifted three classic matches out of four. On June 3, Pakistan and England fought a terrific high-scoring contest at Trent Bridge. It seemed, the low scoring matches – scores around 200 to 250 – ensuring more chances of a simmering contest would not be evident in this edition of World Cup. But after the high-scoring nail-biter at Trent Bridge, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and New Zealand stepped up to prove, the 80s and 90s flavour in ODI cricket still have not vanished completely.

 While the drama of moon-sighting committee of Bangladesh reached the level of a comical cinema, Sri Lankan bowlers were fighting hard to keep the hopes of their team alive in the tournament. The Blue Tigers from Asia clawed back into the rain-affected game match to shock the Lankan Lions by bundling them out for 201.

The target for Afghanistan was just 187 from 41 overs according to D/L method. But the Sri Lankan bowlers did not let their Asian counterpart to inflict a shocker – they escaped the Afghan scare, and what more important thing was – this World Cup bagged the first low-scoring thriller.

During the day of Eid-ul-Fitr in Bangladesh, the Tigers followed the Sri Lankan way.

Their batting had been mediocre despite some brilliant starts, and managed to post 244 in their allotted 50 overs. For the likes of Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor such a total was not supposed to trigger a migraine headache with an aura, but as the game progressed, the Bangladeshi slow-bowlers and medium-pacers stranglehold the Kiwi batting line-up. The game went down the wire as New Zealand prevailed in an absolute thriller of a contest at the Kia Oval.

As a cricket fan, I cannot but praise the fight back of both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh under pressure and neither can I ignore the efforts of New Zealand and Afghanistan. But what the matches hide is, some mind-boggling batting display by the above-mentioned teams, which won’t help to dream big.

For many experts, Bangladesh are still rated as a dangerous underdog, but those who follow Bangladesh cricket closely, realize how good this team is and they are capable of going a long way in this tournament. Mentally this unit is very positive and their intent to fight back under any circumstances, has made them a team to watch over the years.

But still, at times, the mediocrity of old days shows up and threatens to spoil the party.    

 After being invited to bat first under the dark sky at the Oval, Bangladesh’s start was steady. Kane Williamson thought his new ball bowlers would be able to extract enough movement by pitching it full enough and then exploit the bounce of the wicket to test the Bangladesh openers. The deck did have movement off the air and not surface, but one thing Williamson forgot, Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar are well-equipped to deal with full and short of a length bowling. And they were dealing New Zealand’s new ball bowlers quite confidently.

But madness followed.

 Soumya and Tamim attempted poor shots, which led to their demise. And when Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim looked set to rewrite another South-Africa-like-partnership, Mushfiq threw his wicket away by digesting a run out and then Shakib followed attempting to cut a goodish length ball from Colin de Grandhomme. The rest of the batting line-up failed to graft any productive partnerships and kept on getting out while executing some poor shots.

Even though the bowlers showed the guts to defend such a total, which could have been around 280-290 had the batters not been insensible enough. Getting out to better deliveries is one thing while walking for the pavilion after scripting a poor shot is something else. Such execution of shots only dents the confidence, which is hard-earned by defeating a top team like South Africa.

In a tough World Cup like this, it is never possible to win every match. One can show the character to convey the message, they are here to win and the Bangladesh bowlers helped to convey this message, but this inspiring fight back should not hide the mediocre batting display, which requires a hard-check and the captain’s own performance requires the same as well.

Frankly speaking, other than captaincy, in last two matches, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's performance had been below average. Even though his bowling was toothless but field placement and bowling changes were impactful against South Africa, but against New Zealand, he looked a tad defensive as captain, and while bowling, he never looked confident enough to give a breakthrough.

Mashrafe did not engage a slip while the pacers were operating with two new batsmen at the crease. Any captain would have done that while defending such a total. Even I think, he should have gone with one slip and a short leg against the tail while operating with a spinner. It would have built pressure.

Then, despite knowing the fact, Shakib and Miraz are his strike bowlers, he should not have finished their full quota too early. With Mashrafe, himself, bowling badly, automatically, Bangladesh are one bowler short and thus, it would be important to exploit the available resources smartly.      

Note:  This article has been published at Cricketsoccer on 05/06/2019 Well fought Bangladesh, but…..

Thank You

Faisal Caesar  

Cricket World Cup 2019: Bangladesh: Opening match? No problem! The Tigers can roar!

“An upset? 

Come on, you must be out of your mind if you even think such. 

Bangladesh are one of the big boys of world cricket right now. 

They not only win matches, but have mastered the art of handling pressure better than others”.  

After an outstanding opening ceremony at Barcelona during the FIFA World Cup 1982, the defending champions Argentina faced a young Belgium team, who were featuring in the greatest show on earth since 1970. Obviously, they were the underdogs and against a team, which was boosted by a young talent named Diego Maradona, Belgium’s chances were less. But after 90 minutes, Argentina were lost in the Belgian forest. 

Diego Maradona and Argentina were gripped by an unknown fear in the opening match of World Cup. In that similar event, a brilliant French unit and European Champions West Germany digested shock defeats in their respective opening matches. 

Even the hot favourites Brazil found the going tough against Soviet Union in their first match. The Brazilians were gripped by nerves four years later in Mexico as well, where, luckily the escaped the Spanish fear. Meanwhile, in the same tournament, Italy were halted by Bulgaria in the opening match and in Italia 90, Omam Biyik would throw the biggest bombshell ever by defeating the defending champions Argentina at San Siro.  

The story is no different in cricket as well. During the World Cup 1987, India, the defending champions, failed to pass the test of nerves against the underdogs Australia. While in the next edition, Australia, the hot favourites at their own backyard failed to escape the New Zealand scare in the opening match. While the champions of that edition in Australia and New Zealand, Pakistan were crushed by West Indies. 

 Any opening match of a World Cup is all about nerves and many better teams fail to handle the pressure and thus succumb. And in case of Bangladesh, their story in the opening matches in mega events have not been chummy. The memories of that defeat against Canada in 2003 still hurts and whenever, Bangladesh take the field in the opening match of a World Cup, it seems, the result might not be according to expectations. 

As history suggests, they have won just once since 1999 in their opening encounter.

But it’s changing times in Bangladesh cricket. 

Kia Oval was the venue for Bangladesh’s opening encounter against one of the favourites of tournament – South Africa. Just a few days ago at the same venue, the Proteas were found wanting against the hosts, England. It was expected that the South Africans would bounce back in style against Bangladesh, who don’t have a very encouraging track record in their opening matches. Moreover, none of the experts, leaving few, expected enough from Bangladesh. South Africa were the favourites of majority. 

Bangladesh entered the field with a lot of hype – created by the home supporters - behind them and at the Oval, the atmosphere was more like the Sher-e-Bangla stadium. The pressure was on Bangladesh more than South Africa. The crowd pressure, high expectations and poor history in opening matches – all revisited in the minds of Bangladesh fans.  

But at the end of the day, it was the Bangladeshi flag which was flying proudly in London. South Africa would digest their second defeat of this World Cup, while Bangladesh would bag their second victory in an opening encounter of World Cup. 

Overall, it was a very tensed and exciting match. Since the World Cup kicked off, the matches had been heavily one-sided. This World Cup required a huge boost and it has been Bangladesh, who gave this event the much needed spice. 

Soumya Sarkar’s gung-ho-batting hinted about a dam-care-attitude while the composure of Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim conveyed the message, the Tigers would not crumble under pressure. They batted neatly and posted a total of 330 – quite an astonishing achievement by a team, who were shot out for 78 runs when they last met South Africa in a World Cup match. 

On a good batting track, Bangladesh would require a disciplined bowling and fielding display to halt South Africa and they did it better than anyone could even think of. 

Bangladesh bowling has been one of their weak links in limited-over formats and it neither has it any express bowlers nor any champion spinners apart from Shakib. They have their limitations and they just bowled within that – no adventure, no out-of-the-box-idea and no ultra-heroism. They just stuck to the plan of bowling more dot balls and pile on the pressure – it worked. 

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza had been brilliant as a captain on the field, who rotated his options smartly and his men delivered accordingly. Mustafizur Rahman and Saifuddin were spot on with their length, while the spinners – Shakib, Mosaddek Hossain and Mehidy Hasan Miraz varied the length and flight consistently to outsmart South African batters. 

An upset? 

Come on, you must be out of your mind if you even think such. 

Bangladesh are one of the big boys of world cricket right now. 

They not only win matches, but have mastered the art of handling pressure better than others.  

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer on 02/06/2019  Bangladesh: Opening match? No problem! The Tigers can roar!

Thank You

Faisal Caesar