Picture the scene. Your team is within striking distance of achieving something they have never done before, a semi-final place in a World Cup. The team have played well to keep themselves in the match, particularly the bowlers. But now it’s crunch time, the game within a game is the most important thing. Chasing down the target of 116 inside 12.1 overs, to ensure a better run rate than your opponents is the only thing that matters – or at least it should be unless you’re Bangladesh.
Throughout this World Cup, Bangladesh have played like a team who regard winning as beneath them. A bit like a layabout, who resolves to get up early and find work, but then realises that it’s just too much hassle. In their very first group match against Sri Lanka, it was a case of stumbling over the winning line. Against South Africa they refused the gift of three full tosses in the final over, and with it the game, against a spinner who had never bowled the final over in T20Is. And they barely bothered to show up against Australia or India, preferring meek surrender well before the final ball was bowled.
A perplexing, misguided plan costs Bangladesh
But against a typically combative Afghanistan side, in the last match of the Super 8s, it has to go down as the most perplexing, misguided and plain ridiculous performance. Ever. Anywhere.
With 19 balls to get 43 runs and five wickets remaining, the stage was set for an outrageous against-the-odds win. The previous over had gone for ten runs, with Litton Das hitting Rashid Khan for a brace of fours, which led to a confrontation between the pair. It seemed that Bangladesh were building up a head of steam, and although the dynamic Towhid Hridoy had been dismissed, the veteran specialist finisher, Mahmudullah Riad was at the crease. The stars it seemed had aligned, in the St Vincent night sky.
Unfathomably, Mahmudullah proceeded to play Noor Ahmad with the sort of respect normally reserved for royalty or visiting heads of state. He played out five dot balls, interspersed with an expansive cover drive for four, as if to tease Bangladesh fans. It’s still unclear if Mahmudullah was acting under team instructions, or if he had made the unilateral decision to refuse the once in a lifetime opportunity of a potential semi-final place, or if it’s simply the way he always starts his innings. Whatever the reason, the over put paid to Bangladesh’s chances.
The ball after Mahmudullah was dismissed, in the 11th over, only added to the confusion surrounding Bangladesh’s so called gameplan. Rishad Hossain almost swung himself of his feet, attempting to hit Rashid Khan into the nearest beach and lost his stumps as a result. If at that point, Bangladesh were content with winning inside 20 overs, no one had told Rishad or perhaps he chose not to listen. Maybe, as a newbie to international cricket the Bangladesh way, he’s yet to be conditioned into playing risk averse cricket. If that is the case, he shouldn’t be castigated for his rashness, and in any case he has been one of the very few rays of sunshine for Bangladesh during this tortuous campaign.
Shanto’s post-match explanation about Bangladesh’s method, only confirmed the lunacy and invited ridicule. Essentially his assessment was that after losing three early wickets, chasing the target in 12.1 overs wasn’t going to happen.
Bangladesh conservatism geared to risk avoidance
Bangladesh cricket is conservative to its absolute core; team selection and strategy are all based on playing with the least amount of risk. Add to the mix, players and management whose prime concern is to avoid a social media backlash, and the conservatism is only strengthened. In this game, Bangladesh took the approach to it’s logical and extreme end-point. Bangladesh have routinely been accused of appeasing fans by looking at what might be considered a respectable margin of loss rather than going for broke, and giving themselves a chance of actually winning.
In the past, winning the final match of a series or tournament has papered over cracks, and so perhaps that was the lowly objective. Ultimately, the safety net of going for a win within 20 overs if 12.1 overs proved too difficult, was simply too hard to resist.
However, this time the patently illogical thinking behind the approach, has been exposed. The millions who were watching the match, collectively scratched their heads and asked why?
Bangladesh discovered the hard way, that the cricket gods aren’t pleased when you try to tinker with how the game is supposed to be played. Once Bangladesh had in effect eliminated themselves, Afghanistan were always going to be favourites to win the match, carried along by a joyous momentum. They are the ones who have rightly received the plaudits, finding themselves just two wins away from a fairy tale World Cup champions title.
Bangladesh should spend ample time thinking about what might have been, but history tells us that’s unlikely. The goldfish bowl that is Bangladesh cricket doesn’t do meaningful introspection. It’s skewed priorities mean that winning will continue to be an afterthought.
