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F Waliullah

SCORECARD from CRICINFO

Bangladesh again scored their lowest ever One Day International score. This time the opposition is different, this time it was in front of their own home crowd. The last time it was 76 all out in 30.1 overs under the captancy of wicket keeper Khaled Mashud and this time it was under the captancy of debutant captain allrounder Khaled Mahmud. Bangladesh was 76 all out in 27.3 overs. Both were similar in nature like three batsman could get past double figures, and yet none of them could go on to continue to score even a 20. The following is a similarity and dissimilarity between the two innings apart from what is already written above:

Similarities:

Mohammad Ashraful opened in both innings. Alok Kapali batted in the middle order, at number four position. Tushar Imran, Khaled Mashud, Khaled Mahmud, Mohammad Rafique, Tapash Baisya and Monjurul Islam were in the side in the both teams.

Dissimilarities:

Bangladesh batted in the first innings in the first time and batted in the second innings in the second occassion. Bangladesh had won the toss in the first match and this time it was India who had won the toss. There are two different coaches in the 2 times - first it was Pakistani coach Mohsin Kamal and Ali Zia and the second time it was the local coach Sarwar Imran. The first time it was during the middle of a one day series and this time it was the first match of the tournament. This time it was the team captain's first game as a debut skipper. The last time it was not the first game of the then captain.

The bowling and fielding of the Bangladesh team was not excellent, but it was good considering that it was the first time ever that the Indian team was bowled out in a 50 over match against Bangladesh. To be precise, I think it was the first time ever that India had batted first against Bangladesh in a One Day International. There were a few misfieldings, as well as some catches were dropped, but in the end of the Indian innings, it is safe to say that those dropped catches would not have been of any consequence. The only difference would have been an additional wicket going to the captain Khaled Mahmud's pocket. And to make matters worst, it was off the bowling of Khaled Mahmud that as many as four catches were dropped in Bangladesh's last match - in the world cup match against Kenya.

It was feared before as to what can Mehrab Hossain do after a break for such a long time of over a year against India. Well he might have been unlucky to be given leg before, but he did not show any sort of confident shot. Who would blame him especially if somebody knows the difference between the domestic cricket's fast bowlers and the International cricket's fast bowlers. Both Mohammad Ashraful and Tushar Imran could not take their attitude of playing like true batsman that they had shown in the last couple of world cup games. Tushar must learn from this match that playing well against Kenya and playing against India is not the same.

I think everyone would agree with me that Alok Kapali has been suffering from the Ashraful syndrome of trying to play pull shots whenever they get any bouncer. Alok Kapali and Khaled Mashud's shots suggest that we need a specialist batting coach who can teach the batsman batting technique fast. Akram Khan should have batted at number four position, but he proved that he would have been out for a low score as he did batting at number six anyway. But at least he would have been out on a good ball rather than throwing his wicket away.

I thought that Sanwar Hossain would be able to play spinners better, since he is obviously a dumb mutt with the bat against pacers, but he proved that bringing in a young off spinner like Fahim Muntasir would have been a better choice than a 30-year old specialist middle order bat and a part time spinner. Khaled Mahmud is known to be a fighter, and he tried to fight his way out by trying to hit or cut anything that was outside the off stump. It would be interesting to see how he does with the bat at favorable batting conditions in test matches. Mohammad Rafique proved that he is a much better batsman than Sanwar Hossain when Sanwar Hossain could only manage a duck after playing Harbhajan Singh like in test match cricket and Rafique could hit Harbhajan for a six. Mohammad Rafique was also the top scorer for Bangladesh with an unbeaten 18, but it was inevitable that he would be getting out when the fast bowlers were coming in to bowl. Nevertheless, thanks to Khaled Mahmud and especially Mohammad Rafique to just equalling our lowest ever score in One Day Internationals rather than to record the lowest ever score on home ground in front of the home crowd.

The addition of a specialist batting coach would at least be able to teach the new ball bowlers the technique of holding or defending a ball, if nothing else. Because this is getting irritating to see our medium pacers such as Tapash Baisya and Monjurul Islam trying to play senseless shots when the only thing that they could have tried to do is to hold one end for as long as possible. But the intentions of saving face is just not there yet.

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