On a day of giant killings around the world on Wednesday, the ultimate prize went to the Bangladesh cricket team. While Oman stunned Afghanistan and Papua New Guinea upset Ireland in the World T20 qualifiers, the Tigers hunted down South Africa.
This Bangladesh team has created history almost every month this year, especially in one-day internationals. First, a historical World Cup quarter-final appearance, followed by maiden series wins over Pakistan and India and yesterday over South Africa. There must be something right going on with Bangladesh, considering that they are producing landmark results one after the other.
It all started last year in November when Zimbabwe toured the country, and were thrashed in the ODIs 5-0. A clean sweep indeed, but few looked beyond the results and the matches because it was supposed to be a contest between two minnows, though both are Test-playing nations.
The cricket world noticed the progress made by this young Bangladesh team in the ICC World Cup in March this year, which was played in Australia and New Zealand. They were supposed to go out in the group stage from a pool comprising the co-hosts along with England and Sri Lanka. They were expected to beat the newcomers Afghanistan and Scotland, that’s it. And it indeed started as per the script, as Bangladesh beat Afghanistan by 105 runs in their World Cup opener. In the next, they got lucky as their match against eventual champions Australia was washed out due to rain, giving them a valuable point on the way. Expectedly they lost to Sri Lanka (by 92 runs), and then went on to beat Scotland by six wickets.
But the real giant-killing happened in the next game, with the chances for a slot in the last eight stage bright, Bangladesh went to the match against England with five points in four matches. In a tightly contested game, after being sent in to bat first in Adelaide, Bangladesh post a competitive 275/7 (riding on a fine century by Mahmudullah and a fifty to Mushfiqur Rahim (89)). In a do-or-die match, the target was always going to be a steep one and it turn out so for England as they failed to chase it down, bowled out for 260 in 48.3 overs with Rubel Hossain (4/53) doing most of the damage. The win virtually put Bangladesh into the quarter-finals for the very first time in their history – their previous best were reaching the Super Eights in 2007.
The team which was written off from the start knocked out England from the tournament with that victory. Bangladesh again came very close to beating New Zealand in their last group match, but lost out by just three wickets after posting a creditable 289-run target for the Kiwis. They finally bowed out of the World Cup in the quarter-finals, losing to India by 109 runs, in which they blamed umpires for biased decisions.
Bangladesh cricketers celebrates their series victory against South Africa at The Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong on July 15, 2015. (AFP Photo)
The flames of winning big matches were ignited at Adelaide for a new-look Bangladesh side and when Pakistan toured in the next month they were ready for the challenge. The world noticed their winning spree when they whitewashed Pakistan 3-0 in the ODI series with three comprehensive victories in the series. They stunned Pakistan by 79 runs in the first, by seven wickets in second and eight wickets in the third match. Due to the erratic performances of Pakistan team in the past, the historic result was though appreciated but was not celebrated as much as it was deserved. But it gave a young Bangladesh team brimming with confidence another shot in their arm before India toured in June.
The Indian selectors send a full-fledged side for the tour to Bangladesh despite reports that a few senior players had requested for rest after a long season, comprising a tour to Australia, the World Cup and IPL. A strong Indian team was expected to win the series against their small neighbouring country but the results were totally out of the blue. The home team surprised everyone when they beat India comprehensively by 79 runs in the first ODI after posting a massive 308-run target. They followed it up by another crushing six-wicket victory over twice World Cup winners in the second match to seal the series 2-0, proving that they have actually taken strong strides in limited-overs cricket in the last few years.
It was their tenth straight ODI winsat home, which is not a small feat at all for any team, especially against Test-playing countries. India finally won the final ODI by 77 runs to avoid a series whitewash. The historic series win against Pakistan and India also made sure that Bangladesh qualified for the next ICC Champions Trophy.
It was a dream run indeed, albeit in home conditions, and when South Africa landed it was expected that Bangladesh’s run would come to a stop. South Africa started their tour with two easy wins in the two-match T20I series but the real test was always in the ODIs, where Bangladesh are no longer pushovers. When the Proteas registered an easy eight-wicket victory in the first ODI it seemed that Bangladesh’s streak had ended, but the home team was plotting different script altogether. In the next match, Bangladesh bundled out the visitors for just 162 runs in 46 overs and chased down the target with a whopping 134 balls to spare and with seven wickets in hand.
In the decider, the Tigers stamped their authority again by restricting South Africa to 168/9 in a rain-truncated 40-overs-a-side match. The D/L revised target for them was 170, which they achieved in just 26.1 overs with nine wickets in hand, wrapping up yet another historic series win in style.
Now it won’t be wrong to suggest the touring teams to Bangladesh – ‘Beware, the Tigers are on the prowl’.
Source: Times of India