West Indies skipper Darren Sammy (L) explains a point to paceman Ravi Rampaul during their training session at the Cricket Academy ground in Mirpur yesterday.One wouldn't be at fault for believing that Bangladesh's fantastic come-from-behind Twenty20 win against the West Indies in Mirpur on Tuesday would be enough to remove bitter memories of a disaster that took place at the same venue seven months ago against the same opponents.
The impact of "58 all out" has far reaching consequences, much of which were suffered by the Tigers; they are still facing curt reminders, especially these days when the West Indies are touring the country.
For the pessimist, the electronic scoreboard displaying the final score was symbolic as Darren Sammy's men laughed all the way to the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium dressing room on that outrageous March 4 afternoon. What really stood out during the earth-shattering defeat was the boss's confusion; Shakib Al Hasan's hesitancy between a drive and a sweep that resulted in his dismissal showed just how baffling that day was for the overconfident hosts.
The sea of change (as much as it is possible in seven months) since that day have intensified the call to bury the ghost once and for all.According to Abdur Razzak, who was unbeaten on two and bowled a single over that day, the Tigers haven't forgotten, or in his words, haven't been let to do so.
"We forget the wins but we can't seem to forget the 58," said the left-arm spinner yesterday.
"The more we try to put it out of our mind, the more we are reminded of it. I personally think that it is not right."Razzak's candour gave away his teammates' urge to even the score, a state of mind West Indies had when they travelled to the city to play that World Cup match.
Kieron Pollard too believes "58 all out" has a mental hold on the Tigers, though he tried to play it down for the sake of humility."Obviously there is a slight psychological advantage for us, but having said that it was in the World Cup and in that pressure anything can happen," said the West Indies all-rounder.
"It's a new series and it's eleven against eleven. Hopefully we see how it progresses. Once we do the basics right we have a good enough team to beat Bangladesh," added the man whose only contribution in that game was a fine catch at point.
In early 2009, West Indies did a similar demolition job at Sabina Park in Kingston by bowling out England for 51 runs. Though it was the nadir of the Andrew Strauss-Andy Flower reign, the calamity was overturned into an inspiration and in the space of two years, their rise as the No 1 Test team in the world is marvelled.Whether 58 all out is an equally stirring instance is a question Bangladesh will answer today.
Fresh from a morale-boosting victory in the lone T20 match, the Tigers take on West Indies in the first one-dayer of the three-match series today.
The day-night affair will kick off from 1.30pm at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
Victories always work as a tonic and Bangladesh got it -- courtesy of new skipper Mushfiqur Rahim's magnificent batting -- when they desperately needed it. It won't matter much that it came in a T20 affair, because after the disastrous tour of Zimbabwe, Bangladesh needed something like that to regain their confidence and set the tone for a demanding series against West Indies. The boost is especially important as the Tigers have a good chance to impress the fans against this current Caribbean team if they can play to their potential in home conditions.
The change in outlook was refreshingly visible during the practice session yesterday. The Tigers were not overjoyed with their success in the first match of the series; rather it appeared that they were very much focused on the one-day series, which the skippers of both teams expected to be a "competitive" one.
Experienced left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak gave the same impression while he was speaking to the media prior to the one-day series, but said that they were slightly ahead following the victory in the T20 match.
“It is a plus point (winning the first match of a series) that has kept us slightly ahead. We are mentally in front as a win is great for everyone. A win is always important,” said Razzak.
The new regime of Bangladesh cricket under the leadership of Mushfiqur Rahim and coach Stuart Law got off to a prefect start, result-wise, on Tuesday night but everything was not ideal in the dramatic three-wicket victory. If Mushfiqur's men want to embody their coach's new mantra of “smart cricket” then they should have put up a better batting performance -- a long-standing headache for Bangladesh cricket, the batting was again not 'smart' in the T20 match. It will be a different ball game in the three-match one-day series where the Tigers' batters must not fall prey to their old bad habits of throwing wickets away at crucial times if they want to keep the momentum going.
Speaking for the West Indies, Kieron Pollard made it clear that they will come back strongly in the series, so the Tigers must ensure that they will play smart cricket in all departments unlike in the T20 match.“It could be a combination of different things. It could be experience or situations when you look back at the post mortem you see exactly what went wrong. I think we have done that and the guys know where they had made the errors. Hopefully we can correct it and come back stronger in the tournament,” warned Pollard.
After the way the Bangladesh middle-order lost its way on Tuesday, one cannot say like Razzak did that there were not many problems in the batting department; the batting performance should be a cause for concern for coach Law.
As Razzak said they love to play on the same kind of wicket as the one used for the T20 because it suited them most. It is commonly believed that it would be a big challenge for the inexperienced West Indies batting line-up to handle the Bangladesh slow bowlers on that wicket, especially former skipper Shakib Al Hasan who caused the visitors problems during the T20.
Bangladesh's bowling was good during the T20 triumph, but still there was room for the pace bowlers to improve. The question however was not with the bowling; many believe that the batsmen should shoulder the brunt of the responsibility to win matches, as captain Mushfiqur Rahim had emphasised during the pre-series press conference.
The common belief is that this Bangladesh team has the potential to produce much better performances, but the problem lies with the application and that's why everybody will be looking to see how the Tigers grab this opportunity against this West Indies side to state their renewed intent under the guidance of new coach Stuart Law. A better, smarter batting display will go a long way to healing the wounds of the memory of that infamous World Cup match against the same opponents.
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