There’s no need for anger, no need for tears.
The Tigers exit the cricket World Cup with their heads held high, having done the entire nation proud over the last month, and giving us all something to cheer about amidst the most depressing and distressing of times at home.
We have won matches at world cups before, but this time was different. It wasn’t just that we upset the odds to qualify for the quarter-finals or even the three wins along the way. It was how we played and how we carried ourselves throughout the tournament.
Bangladesh has always had individually talented players who could put in an eye-catching performance, and we have always had enough talent as a team that when everyone is on song together, Bangladesh can upset even the best in the world.
What has been missing in the past has been determination, dedication, and commitment. This World Cup the Tigers showed that they have grown up. They showed character. They showed fight. They showed that we have finally arrived as a cricket-playing nation.
This year there was no crumbling before stronger sides and no throwing away of matches against weaker ones. We lost two matches pretty comprehensively, but at no point did we give up and throw in the towel. And we ran an impressive and in-form New Zealand closer than anyone thought possible.
The bottom line is that we were in with a fighting chance in all three of our losses, and in all the games came back from adversity with grit and guts, although we fell short in the end.
Let us therefore not get too upset about the poor umpiring decisions in our quarter-final loss to India, or poor decisions made in the field or with the bat, or with our inability to keep up the pressure when in a good position.
These were all disappointing and they all contributed to our loss, but it’s all in the game.
Bangladesh may feel that we never get the rub of the green and that close and controversial umpiring calls always seem to go against us, and we might have genuine cause for grievance and complaint.
But that’s the game, and we need to man up and take it on the chin.
That’s life, and if any nation knows something about being dealt a rough hand and picking itself up and dusting itself off after facing disappointment and defeat, it is Bangladesh.
What marks Bangladeshis out among the rest of the world, is our resilience and our grit. No one works harder, fights more bravely, or has overcome more adversity than the men and women of this country. Now, finally, we have a cricket team that reflects the national character, that is equal to the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of a nation of 160 million.
The Tigers were not faultless. They allowed themselves to get rattled. The bad luck and poor umpiring visibly discouraged and deflated them, and contributed to poor decision-making and sloppy execution that let slip away any chance we had of getting back in the game.
But we hung in there and didn’t give up. We went down swinging, and no one will ever take this team lightly again. Taking the tournament as a whole, 2015 was the year we came of age as a cricketing nation.
Shakib and Mushfiq are world class players -- no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Mashrafe and Mahmudullah showed they have the heart and the spirit to compete with anyone in the world. Rubel, Taskin, Soumya, Nasir and Sabbir suggest that the future for Bangladeshi cricket is bright.
This World Cup performance will have done wonders for their self-confidence and the self-confidence of all the other young players waiting in the wings, and we have reason to hope that it will be a platform we can build upon for sustained improvement and development.
If we are being perfectly honest, we would have to admit that we are just a rung below world-class, and that we need a little push before we can consider ourselves ready to join the elite. We need to be able to consistently hit 300 and be able to restrict the opposition to the 270-280 mark before we can demand a seat at the table.
But on the form of this World Cup, those days might not be too far away.
So let’s not get too hung up on the poor fielding that gifted the Indians an extra 25 runs or own poor running between the wickets. Let’s not fret about poor decision-making and our inability to keep the pressure on the Indians or to relieve their pressure on us.
Above all, let’s not get too discouraged by the shocking umpiring decisions that in the end turned the match decisively against us.
Don’t get me wrong. I am as outraged as the next man and think that flogging is too good for the two match umpires. It is one thing to miss a call. We all make mistakes, and to not spot a no ball is an excusable mistake to make.
To gratuitously call one when it wasn’t, however, requires a very rarified species of officiousness that marks out the concerned official as the worst kind of pedant. These are the types of men who got given a lot of wedgies growing up, you can count on it.
Certainly, had Rohit been given out on 90 or Riyadh not out, things might have turned out very different. But the truth is that this wasn’t one of our better turns at the cup, and while we didn’t get the rub of the green, it wasn’t a match-winning performance by us, either.
And credit to the Indians. They might have got lucky with some key calls and had more than their fair share of good fortune, as well, but they also turned in a very competent, highly professional performance. They didn’t make too many mistakes, and in the end, that’s what counts.
In the end, you make your own luck.
