Tigers hardly show any sign of improvement

|| CF Correspondent ||

Bangladesh has ended their ICC World Cup 2019 tournament with only winning three matches not being able to qualify for the semifinal. Any sign of improvement for Bangladesh national cricket team is hardly seen as Bangladesh in the 2011 and 2015 World Cup also won only three matches in both the individual tournament. Their performance regarding in the World Cup series seems to remain in status quo.

Bangladesh is on the number seven position in the point table after losing against Pakistan. They can fall down to the eighth position if the result of Australia vs South Africa match doesn’t go their way.  But whatever the position, seven or eight, despite of some positives, this World Cup mission should be regarded as a failure.  

This team has taken Bangladesh to another level. Bangladesh played the quarter final in 2015 World Cup, 2017 Champions trophy Semifinal and 2018 Asia Cup final. They have won series after series at home. This team has also won series outside Bangladesh. This team has basked in shower of success over the years. This success has made everyone dream about the World Cup semifinal. The fans dreamt with the eyes of the cricketers, they have trusted cricketer’s ability. But that dream still remains a dream for now.

Failing to fulfill the dream doesn’t really mean failure. But Bangladesh’s World Cup can be called a failure because they failed to meet the target. Bangladesh were incapable of showing their full ability and as a result they were pushed back at the bottom of the table.

Bangladesh started their World Cup superbly beating South Africa in their opening match. They also defeated West Indies and Afghanistan but the match with Sri Lanka washed out due to rain, in which everyone expected Bangladesh to win. Whatever, that was out of their control. But beating Pakistan was in team’s hand but they failed to do that.

If Bangladesh defeated Pakistan, there could have been a chance to stay at the fifth position in the point table. Staying in the fifth position at English condition in a World Cup of longer format, wouldn’t have been a bad result for a seven ranked team. They would have been satisfied with the efforts they put in.

There are a lot of upsides in this World Cup too. The greatest achievement for Bangladesh in this World Cup is Shakib Al Hasan with his extra-ordinary performance. Shakib remains the all time great for Bangladesh for quite a few years now. He has been the number one ranked all rounder in the most parts for the last 10 years. But it was required to make his mark in the greatest cricket extravaganza. The way he did that may have gone beyond expectations for some. The world hasn’t seen an all-rounder performance like this in the World Cup ever before.   

Before the last 2015 World Cup match, Bangladesh consistently has batted well. They went past their highest score twice in this World Cup edition. They made the record run chase. They fought toe to toe against the top sides with the bat.

But bowling, mainly bowling with the new ball has troubled Bangladesh troughout this tournament. Skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza has been a flop throughout this tournament. The most successful ODI bowler has been in his worst form of career in this tournament. Mashrafe fought with his hamstring injury match after match but this time write a fairytale of conquering his injury.

Mustafizur Rahman has picked up 20 wickets in this tournament but he failed to pick up a single wicket with the new ball. In his first spell he was a like a toothless Tiger.

Saifuddin picked up wickets consistently but he has given away too many runs. There was a lot of talk about Rubel Hossain being benched. But after giving 83 runs from 9 overs in his first opportunity, those talks faded away. In spin department, Shakib and Miraj were useful. But they failed to deliver too much impact because of toothless pace bowling.