y the time the woeful bowlers of Bangladesh -- led by Mashrafe -- had leaked 381 runs, Australia had won the match. Thus, Bangladesh’s batting became a display of grit and fearless cricket -- reaching their highest ever ODI total.
But it was beyond them to win. This team is too misbalanced to go too far.
When the highest wicket taker is Soumya Sarkar, a part-timer who opens the innings, big teams cannot be taken down with this lot. Still, the batsmen fought and won hearts.
However, cricket is about winning and not adding admirers. Bangladesh (BD) needs to do a gap analysis and fix the gaps identified.
The Cup is not the issue only, the future of its cricket is as well. Mashrafe’s last bowl-out was so sadly symbolic.
Oz bowling strategy didn’t work
Australia was well prepared and knew BD bowlers had no sting. They hung around until a good time arrived and let loose a volley that was scary. By the time they stopped to take a breath, the fours and sixes decorating the scoreboard said it all. Warner with 166 was the mainstay, but others chipped in to build a skyscraper.
But if the Australian plan to contain the BD batting was there, it didn’t work much. Wickets did fall but the scoreboard ticked on. Shakib fell after a positive 41, but Tamim scored 67, Mahmudullah 69, and Mushfiqur 102 to reach 333 for 8.
It’s a very respectable score on any day against any team, but not when the target is 381. However, the margin of defeat was under 50 runs, and that was more about the BD attitude than anything else. Great.
Plan for the fifth spot
BD needs to face the fact that it can’t go far with this lot of bowlers. They are not capable of stopping the bigger teams. Victories till date in this Cup have come from batsmen, not bowlers.
It means planning for the remaining three matches which are critical if they want to fight for the fifth or sixth spot. That is actually more competitive than the four semi spots which seem to already be decided.
BD will play Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan. Two of the matches are predictable -- Afghanistan at the bottom and India on the way to the top -- but the Pak-BD match will be a contesting one.
It’s going to decide the fifth spot. The way Mash and Fizz and Rubel went for runs was a “what-can-I-say” type of response. It’s playing South Asian teams from now on -- who are familiar with each other -- so competition will be high no matter what that team is.
Meanwhile, fan optimism -- fed by media hype -- is becoming a fetish. Being positive is fine but it’s no substitute for realism that can lead to wins.
Afsan Chowdhury is a journalist and researcher.