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Originally Posted by Tehsin
True. We knew exactly what needed to be done. Still, Monga has gotten a lot better over the last week or so. His glee after the WI debacle was ugly.
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I know! This is what really happened!! :
' ... The same day Ireland defeated favorites Netherlands by 5 runs (D/L method) to cause a massive upset. In our second match we came up against the Irish. Shanto(Hasibul Hossain) was at his brilliant best as we bowled them out for 129 with Shanto(Hasibul Hossain) claiming 3-29 and with us cruising at 24-0 on the 7th over the heavens opened up. An almost certain victory was denied. The match got abandoned and we had to share a point with Ireland , who by virtue of this 1 point were almost guaranteed to go through from this group. This put us in a very tricky situation going into the last match against favorites Netherlands . Ireland already had 1 win (against Netherlands ) and one no result and was always going to beat Hong Kong and hence would go through from the this group. With both us and Netherlands having 1 win, all on a sudden this was a must win match for both the sides. We were all so anxious heading into that match! We had been in a similar situation last time around against Kenya and we all know what happened there. We started off quite well and restricted them to 171 all out. We started our chase and in no time were looking down the barrel! 1-7, 2-7, 3-13 and 4-15. We were listening in disbelief as the Dutch seamers were ripping the heart out of our batting order. At 4-15 I think I had never ever felt worse in my life. We were still unbeaten in the tournament and were having a fairy tale run and one rained out match against the Irish had almost ruined everything. Akram Khan and Nannu(Minhazul Abedin) were batting in the middle and till this day I don’t think I have prayed and promised to the Almighty as much as I did for those next few hours. They slowly started building a partnership
and then came another heart-stopping moment when it started to rain. We were way behind in the D/L method and only 2 more deliveries were required for this to be a legitimate match after which if the players went off the field the Dutch team would be declared winners by virtue of D/L method! Akram Khan showed immense maturity and started wasting time in all possible manners. He tied his shoelaces, changed his helmet and did everything possible to deny those 2 deliveries being bowled as he knew once that happens it would virtually be all over if it continues raining and the Dutch team would be reluctant to return to the field. Where as if this was an abandoned match, Bangladesh would go through. It worked! And if I remember correctly the players went off the field with 1 ball still remaining for it to be a legitimate match! Those were the longest few minutes of my life at that point. The play resumed again and Bangladesh were set a revised target of 141 in 33 overs. Nannu(Minhazul Abedin) got run out leaving us on 77-5. and when Enamul Haque went to leave us on 86-6 we were pretty much dead and out! Akram though was still fighting. He had a date with destiny. Saiful Islam came in and just gave him enough support by hanging in there while he single handedly took on all corners. Saiful departed with us 6 runs away from the target but Akram Khan was there till the end. He delivered when it mattered the most! The man single handedly took us to the semi-final of the ICC Trophy with an innings of a life time. That 68 not out is still after all these years arguably the greatest ever knock played by a Bangladeshi. The magnitude of that innings was epic and everlasting. Bangladesh cricket would not be where it is today if Akram Khan had not rescued us from that situation. The situation, the pressure, and the expectations – he took on everything on his able shoulders and took us to safety. If ever there was a captain’s knock, that was it! We never looked back from there on ... '
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