Bangladesh ODI captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza was speechless regarding the sudden change in the Asia Cup schedule and said “even a mad will be peeved” with such unprofessional behavior by the organising committee, the ACC.
Mashrafe’s statement was based on the fact that Bangladesh will have to play their first second round game, against India, Friday, after having played Afghanistan a day earlier.
Bangladesh were preparing to take on Afghanistan in the group champion-deciding game. However, just a day before the game Wednesday, the teams were informed of the unexpected changes in the fixture.
It is widely being said the changes were made in favour of cricketing giant India, who are hosting the six-nation competition in the UAE with support from the Emirates Cricket Board.
With the hotel being in Dubai, Team India do not want to travel some 139kms to and from Abu Dhabi for their matches and have thus pressed the organising committee to change the format the tournament was following until Tuesday night.
@BCBtigers will be happy to finish the group phase as the champion but a probable hectic schedule has come up as a worry for the side.https://t.co/ax8yQrjSEL#BCB #TIGERS #BCBTIGERS #CRICKET #BANGLADESH #BANGLADESHCRICKET #BANGLADESHCRICKETTEAM #ASIACUPCRICKET #ASIACUP #ACC
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) September 18, 2018
“Even a mad will not react well to this. This is never right and acceptable in an international competition. You are informed that you are ‘B2’ just a day before you are to play the last group game, and decide the champion and runners-up in the group. One might not show the reaction, but a reaction will and should be normal in such issues,” said Mashrafe to the media at ICC Cricket Academy Ground in Dubai Wednesday.
As per the previous format, the groups will have a champion and a runners-up moving forward to the Super Four round of the tournament.
That the last two group stage matches – between Bangladesh and Afghanistan Thursday in Abu Dhabi and India and Pakistan in Dubai Wednesday - had become group champion deciders, and a forced change have now killed the value of the result of the final group phase matches. The ACC was absent in making a clarification.
The change was found through a revised Super Four round schedule sent in the form of a media release in the early hours of Wednesday.
Mushfiq likely to be rested against Afghanistan https://t.co/VvnMbN6how
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) September 18, 2018
The #Bangladeshi think-tank is mulling #resting wicketkeeper-batsman #Mushfiqur Rahim for the #Afghanistan game.
The press release did not mention or explain the changes, and had only mentioned the dates and venues of the Super Four matches.
As per the new schedule, India will play all their second round matches in Dubai, where, as per the old schedule, the side would have played at least one game in Abu Dhabi.
Bangladesh will now play their first Super Four round game against India in Dubai Friday.
“It is disappointing. We had come to this tournament with the intention to win against Sri Lanka, and also the second game, finish as the champion and play the runners-up of Group A in the Super Four round. But (Wednesday) morning we were informed that the result does not matter in the Afghanistan game and that we are team B2 in the group. This is very disappointing,” said Mashrafe.
Young players need to fill Tamim-sized gap https://t.co/jFjgL2dgVH#Bangladesh head #coach Steve #Rhodes said whoever is going to replace opener #Tamim Iqbal will have a daunting task ahead.
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) September 18, 2018
The unfavourable Middle Eastern heat has been a common complaint by the teams, albeit off the record.
Following the ACC’s unrealistic changes, Mashrafe went to the media saying there are signs of desperateness in arranging the tournament in Dubai, not thinking about the recovery time a team need to recharge following a 50-over game in the unbearable heat.
“Group matches are important to all the teams. It is the main phase of the tournament, every game matters in that round. But we will be playing our first match in this round having played a group phase match just the night before. We do not have 24 cricketers in the squad that we can rest the main 11 and play another 11,” he said.
“The schedule for us in this tournament was always tough, to be honest. We had to play the last group game [Thursday] and play our first Super Four match the next day. Say, we have to field second against Afghanistan, we will not have even 10 hours’ time to recover. We cannot force our body. Under the conditions here, you need at least 24 to 48 hours to recover at times, or you are dehydrated,” he explained.