A file photo taken on March 23 shows Bangladesh batsman Mushfiqur Rahim (L) reacts after he was dismissed by Indian bowler Hardik Panday (R) during their ICC World Twenty20 match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
It seems the ghost of ICC World Twenty20 defeat to India will continue to hunt the Bangladeshi cricketers for quite some time.
Batsman Mahmudullah earlier this week said that he is looking to get over the one-run loss and concentrate on business ahead in the upcoming Dhaka Premier League.
Mushfiqur Rahim, the first of three batsmen dismissed in the final over in Bangalore, chose a different path on Friday, saying that he is not interested to speak about the tragedy.
But the heartbreaking losing caused some bleeding once again when Indian pacer Hardik Pandya raised question over Mushfiq’s ability in an interview published on sports website with sportskeeda.com on Friday.
‘Dhoni told me to just enjoy the moment and bowl without any pressure,’ Pandya described his mental state during the eventful final over at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
‘See, I knew that Mushfiqur Rahim doesn’t have the ability to clobber a six off me. He might hit me for a boundary, which he did, but tonking sixes is beyond him,’ said Pandya.
Bangladesh came close to producing the biggest shock of the tournament before they blew it away in the last three balls to suffer the heartbreaking one-run loss to the hosts. The Tigers required 11 runs from the last over with Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni giving the ball to Pandya.
Mushfiq eased the pressure by hitting the Indian paceman for two successive boundaries before he unnecessarily tried to end the game with a big shot and picked up the midwicket fielder to give the first twist in the tale.
Then Mahmuduallah did the same to Pandya after steering his team almost to the doorstep of victory.
The Indian pacer said that when Mushfiq hit him for two successive boundaries he warned him that the game was not over yet.
‘When he [Mushfiq] celebrated prematurely after hitting me for a couple of boundaries, I told him that the match is not over and he might muck it all up. They still needed 2 runs to win. Both Rahim and Mahmudullah went for glory shots and threw their wickets away,’ said Pandya.
‘That’s where the inexperience of Bangladeshi cricketers showed. Any sensible cricketer would have sealed the match but they (Bangladeshi cricketers) snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.’
Asked about their planning for the final ball when Bangladesh still had the chance to win the game, Pandya said he preferred back-of-a-length delivery to a yorker.
‘Both Dhoni and I thought that it made more sense to bowl a back-of-a-length ball rather than a Yorker,’ said Pandya. ‘A tail-ender might edge a yorker and get a boundary but he is unlikely to hit a good length ball. So that was the rationale behind not bowling a Yorker,’ he added.
Source: New Age
