Has Bangladesh Cricket come of age? Are the Bangladeshi’s finally ready to rub their shoulders with the cricket elite? Will they be a serious opponent in the future? I am sure these were unanswered questions with regards to Bangladesh cricket, though it is evident that the promise the Tigers showed in the past is slowly but surely coming true.
Surely they have proved a point very strongly by beating the Kiwis and that too convincingly! This is without doubt wonderful news not just for the Bangladeshi’s who have been poor relations of cricket for a very long time, but also to the cricket world at large as the competition against them is bound to be harder and stiffer and not just a walk in the park!
The Kiwis who are in the process of building their side for the world cup couldn’t have asked for poorer performance being drubbed four nil by the lowly placed Tigers with the other game being washed off. It is a case of back to the drawing board for New Zealand though time is not on their side to organise a strong world cup campaign.
The New Zealand team on display in Bangladesh was virtually 80% of their full side with may be Jacob Oram, who has never been fit long enough being the one to miss out! After a dismal showing in Sri Lanka, where the batting was the main worry, the Kiwis needed a boost in the form of a comprehensive win with skipper Vettori back at the helm.
But what a turn around it happened to be! For starters one can’t have too much of confidence in a batting side which has Vettori at no six with an average of just seventeen plus. True he has been steadily improving as a batsman, but if a player with such a record occupies the pivotal no six in your side, then it is an indication that your tail starts at that point! And the batting of the Kiwis on tour was never inspiring and it was the batsmen who definitely struggled against the spin bowling of the Bangladeshi’s.
The Bangladeshi’s on the other hand latched on to every weak area of the Kiwis and dominated them completely. True there were three games that were very close in terms of the final result and could have gone either way, but anybody watching it was convinced that the Tigers were the team that controlled the games. New Zealand unfortunately on most occasions was playing catch up cricket, which dented their reputation badly.
For the Tigers the difference was their spinners. Led by the inspirational skipper Shakib who displayed great skill with both bat and ball, and who was easily the undisputed player of the series by scoring two hundreds plus runs at an average of seventy plus and eleven wickets which was the highest no of wickets on either side! I am sure one couldn’t have asked for a better performance from your captain and the manner the rest of the team responded to his call was simply magnificent. Imrul Keyes and Shariar Nafeez were the next best batsmen for the Tigers whilst Razzak and Shuvo bowled their left-arm spin in a manner that stifled the Kiwi Batsman with an economy rate under four an over.
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| Tigers celebrate yet another victory |
In addition to the spinners the next best thing that happened to Bangladesh was the bowling of the fast bowler Rubel Hossain. Bowling with a slinging action Hossain generated good pace and also maintained excellent control with the ball. His best was his return of 4 for 25 in the last game when he had to hold his nerve and bowl to the rampaging Kyle Mills when he appeared to be taking New Zealand to an unlikely victory.
Besides the individual brilliance of the players, the secret of the Bangladesh success was undoubtedly the superb team effort and the level of confidence they displayed on the field. Their bowling was more than adequate when defending small scores and in the only game the Tigers won convincingly the batting flourished, winning with almost ten overs to spare.
Critics may argue that the win against the Kiwis was just a flash in the pan and the Tigers still have a lot to prove against the top teams in the circuit. I am sure the thinking has merit when one considers that teams such as India, Sri Lanka and Australia are much stronger and will be very tough to beat. But look at the rest of the ladder! The West Indian cricket is in disarray with the top players not committing to their cause whilst Pakistan after the spot fixing controversy is till grappling with their own problems, whilst the Tigers didn’t beat England in England, their performance over there can definitely spell some hope for the future if they encounter England in their own backyard. I don’t mean they will beat England but I am sure the contest is bound to be much closer.
And in addition what about the financial gains the country can make? We do know for a fact that Television Companies get very interested in countries that could hold their own in the big league and will be willing to invest more for rights.
This is evident by the staggering US$600 million plus the Indians earned for their rights from the current rights holder. Bangladesh will be also hoping for such incentives though they will have to guard against their greatest enemy which has been inconsistency. Their next big assignment will be the world cup with no other international commitments in the programme.
There was an effort on the part of Bangladesh to look at a series against Sri Lanka just before the big event which has not interested the Lankans, which means the Tigers will have to do a lot of work on their own during the interim period. Whilst the International programme lined up, with no top cricket for them from now on, is not the ideal preparation for Bangladesh before the world cup, with teams looking to play each other at least up to January. The Tigers however could take heart from their performance against the Kiwis and work hard at it, which would enable them to compete against the top teams in the cricket stage which is definitely their first priority.
Roshan Abeysinghe is a leading cricket promoter and an international cricket commentator |
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