Bangladesh cricket team traveled to Australia with the mission of making it to the second round – quarterfinals – of the 2015 ICC World Cup. The side’s head coach Chandika Hathurusingha and skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza, on several occasions, reiterated their desire of winning at least four Pool A matches in order to progress to the quarters.
This means the Tigers will have to win both their matches against Associates Afghanistan and Scotland besides winning two of their four matches against the established orders – co-hosts Australia and New Zealand, England and Sri Lanka.
Both England and Sri Lanka lost their openers against Australia and New Zealand respectively on the opening day of the mega event. While England were crushed by 111 runs in Melbourne, the Lankans also lost convincingly by 98 runs in Christchurch.
Should the results encourage Bangladesh, given the fact that both the England and Sri Lanka matches are potentially winnable ones for the Tigers? According to team sources though, the Bangladesh cricketers do not know whether to feel happy or otherwise. The simple reason is that a lot of runs were scored in these two matches.
The 14 official warm-ups hinted that the wickets in both Australia and New Zealand will be a batsman’s delight. Of the 14 warm-ups, seven innings saw 300+ scores while 10 innings crossed the 250-run mark. In those 14 warm-ups, nine centuries were scored with Indian opener Rohit Sharma leading the way with an 150-odd. As many as 32 half-centuries were scored in the warm-ups.
And as far as the tournament proper is concerned, seven half-centuries were scored along with a century, blasted by Australian opener Aaron Finch.
All these innings indicate one common phenomenon – stick to the basics, survive fifty overs and hope to score 300 or above. The Kiwis perfected this as three of their batters – Brendon McCullum, Kane Williamson and Corey Anderson – struck fifties while opener Martin Guptill fell one short of a well-deserved fifty.
And while defending the target, the bowling has to be sharp.
It is therefore no surprise that Bangladesh’s batting approach in their four practice matches came into question. The batsmen were restless and none of them posted a big score. Most of the batsmen who did get going departed after crafting starts. That the Tigers were dismissed inside 50 overs in all of their practice matches shows that the batsmen were unable to apply themselves in the middle.
The inconsistent performances have, as expected, drawn the ire of Bangladesh captain Mashrafe as well as the millions of cricket-crazy fans back home. Mashrafe, also a veteran cricketer of the side, even went on to question some of the players’ commitment in the practice matches.
However, the practice matches are in the past now.
The Tigers will begin their World Cup campaign this Wednesday against Afghanistan in Canberra. Millions of Bangladesh fans will be praying that their beloved cricketers will overcome the technical glitches and start the flagship event in the best manner possible – a win. For that to happen, the batsmen must put their hands up and be counted, starting from their opening game.
