Where our national cricket teams stand
The Bangladesh women's national cricket team levelled the ODI series against Pakistan on November 7, in a nail-biting finish. The Tigresses emerged on top in the battle of nerves—an experience their captain believes is an invaluable learning opportunity for the team. In the post-match conference, she shared that the team may have to face these kinds of situations in higher-pressure matches, like during a World Cup. Batting first, the Tigresses posted a total of 169 runs for a loss of nine wickets, which could be judged as a below-par score at the halfway mark. Captain Nigar Sultana led from the front with the only half century scored in the match. The Bangladeshi bowlers did their job with enough faith in the defendable score. Rabeya Khan picked up three wickets—which included Pakistan's top scorer—and had an economy rate of 2.90. The match was tied as the 10th Pakistani batter was run out while trying to take the match-winning run. In the super over, Pakistan posted seven runs. Here, too, Sultana played a crucial role as Bangladesh needed two off the last ball to win and the skipper hit a four off the only delivery she faced in the super over. As wicketkeeper, Sultana picked up two stumpings and was crowned player of the match.
After defeating Pakistan 2-1 in the T20 series, the Bangladesh women's team began the ODI series rather meekly, with their batting order crumbling for a mere 81 runs, which Pakistan chased down in under 25 overs and with five wickets remaining. Instead of succumbing to a mental setback after a crushing loss, the Tigresses came back with a fighting attitude, bearing no imprint of the previous match's mistakes. All eyes will be on them to see if they can complete another series victory. After the Pakistan tour is done, the Bangladesh women's team is scheduled to tour South Africa in December. There, too, they will play a T20 series and an ODI series. And next year, Bangladesh is set to host the ICC Women's T20 World Cup, for which they have automatically qualified. This will be Bangladesh's first time hosting a women's World Cup.
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Meanwhile, the other Bangladeshi cricket team ended its six-match losing streak at the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup by beating Sri Lanka on November 6. It can be assumed that Bangladesh fancied their chances in this match since they had beaten this Sri Lankan team in the World Cup preparatory match, and had done so without Shakib Al Hasan. After being well and truly placed out of the running for the semifinals and culminating as much disappointment as was possible, the Tigers seemed to play with a much more relaxed and intentional demeanour. The Sri Lankan team has also had a poor World Cup campaign and were fresh off the humiliating defeat against India where, for the second time this year, they scored less than 60 runs. Shakib was awarded player of the match for a blistering 82 runs that he scored off just 65 deliveries. He also picked up two wickets during Sri Lanka's innings of 279.
Out of the last seven Bangladeshi wins in men's ICC tournaments, Shakib has been awarded POTM six times. Despite this, he has probably gained more media coverage for the now historical timed-out incident. As Andrew Fidel Fernando puts it in his ESPNcricinfo article, "...on some days, it feels for the rest of us as if this is Shakib's world, and we are merely outraging in it." Understandably, social media is rife with debate, and there seems to be an equal number of voices favouring each side. One end of the spectrum admits that Shakib only did what was legally permissible, while those on the other end assert that he showed poor spirit of the game. Champions of the former stance, including commentator Harsha Bhogle and former English national team player Michael Vaughn, have said that the spirit of the game is used as a weak excuse for a mistake that the opposition is justly allowed to take advantage of. While no one is probably going out of their way to admire Shakib for his on-field decision to appeal, his words, "I felt like I was at war," and the sentiment behind them makes sense for the situation the Bangladesh team has been in. He also admitted that the incident probably helped light a fire in him that saw him deliver a match-winning performance.
Bangladesh has had what can be said to be their worst World Cup campaign as of yet, especially since expectations from the team were high. They have been seen as a reasonably strong team in the ODI format in recent years and, before the World Cup, were judged by many to have a good combination of world-class senior cricketers and promising youngsters who have graduated from the Under-19 World Cup winning team. However, the men's team coach had hinted that disappointment may be imminent for those with exceedingly high hopes.
There may not be a lot of time for the Bangladesh team and management to reflect on their mistakes and course-correct since the ICC Men's T20 World Cup is set to take place next June. After the last match, Shakib has been ruled out of the World Cup due to a fractured finger, which means that we have seen the last of one of the finest all-rounders at this stage. Bangladesh look to finish in the top eight so that they can qualify for the ICC Champions Trophy. This depends on a combination of the result of their match against Australia as well as the results of the other three teams (Netherlands, England, and Sri Lanka), who are also vying for the same qualification.
The frustrations caused by the performance of the Bangladesh men's cricket team have moved many to direct their love of the sport towards the Tigresses. The country deserves to see more coverage of the women's team. This change depends on a systemic redistribution of resources within the Bangladesh Cricket Board, but also relies on the general population's willingness to unlearn the conditioning that makes us value men's sports more than women's.
Madiha Athar Khan is a technical writer at Optimizely, and an art enthusiast leading the Art for Soul movement. She can be reached at [email protected].
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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