Cautious Optimism and Sudden Light at the End of the Tunnel?

[Sohel]

1. Tamim Iqbal Khan: Played a nearly flawless innings, not counting the way he ran Junaid Siddique out, and later made zero effort to get back to his crease when Shakib Al Hasan did the same to him. Took his time getting to know the middle before attacking his low strike rate. Sadly, I must count the RBW theatrics also ... a mitigated B (good) for his 79 from 105 balls.

2. Junaid Siddique: Failed to reach that ever elusive 30 run landmark once again, and never looked entirely comfortable in the middle. As Ed Rainsford and Elton Chigumbura overcame their early indiscipline and started bowling more accurately, Siddique began to look worse. That said, I had hoped that he would manage to survive that discomfort and still reach 30 and perhaps beyond. Not so as fellow opener Iqbal had other ideas. Some "credit" also goes to Siddique for responding very unintelligently to a moronic call from the other end. But took a catch much to our collective relief ... C (average) for his lugubrious 27 from 41 balls.

3. Mohammad Ashraful Motin: Looked set to repeat his heroics from ODI 1 before being struck plumb in front by a Chamu Chibhabha delivery cutting back in a little. His lazy response to a normally toothless Chibhabha did him in ... C+ (almost good) for his 22 from 33 balls.

4. Shakib Al Hasan: Promoted himself in order to drive up the dangerously lethargic run rate, something the abnormally placed normal number 4 Roqibul Hasan was unlikely to do. What followed was an exhibition of audacity not seen from Bangladeshis since the year 1971. Ridiculously dropped twice, fiancee Lady Luck was with him as simply finished off the opposition quickly, decisively, and in more ways that even their spokespersons/commentators could possibly have imagined. A buck-wildin' 104 from 64 deliveries with nine 4s and 4 booming 6s before Mushfiqur Rahim, the diminutive Golden Boy of Bangladeshi cricket ran him out, doing unto him what he did unto Iqbal earlier in the innings. Ball in hand, especially on a dead pitch custom made for batter, he finished a team best 2 for 39 from his 9 overs. Sadly, those two lives as well as the life of Iqbal must be counted here ... mitigated B+ (very good) for the Smiling Assassin, again Man of the Match.

5. Mohammad Roqibul Hasan: Was demoted twice and found a better place himself in the batting order. Thanks to the perfect combination of the older ball, agricultural deliveries, and batter-friendly pitch, he played his V-game with greater ease, found the occasional gap he usually doesn't, and drove some nice 4s where better strokemakers failed earlier. He grew in confidence before deciding to get too cute and finding himself well caught at mid-off ... B (good) for his 35 from 28 deliveries. Lets keep him at this position in the batting order and allow him to succeed a bit more. Broken record.

6. Mohammad Naeem Islam: Is more suited to bat in this position but succumbed to a first ball playing a prematurely cheeky shot. Do we question the wisdom of playing such a shot right away? Oh yes we do! ... F! for his wisdom and shitty bowling later on.

7. Mohammad Mushfiqur Rahim: Ball watching like a Dionysian cherub in love, ran out the Skipper who had run Iqbal out earlier, and batted better afterward. Then his straight drive was deflected by bowler Rainsford's fingers to run Mahmudullah out. Obnoxiously loud as always but not a bad day behind the stumps ... run out mitigated C (average) for his 23 not out from 18 deliveries.

8. Mohammad Mahmudullah: Was not blessed with enough balls, I mean deliveries, to settle into his marauding groove. Unlucky dismissal. Bowled poorly but managed to take the valuable wicket of Charles Coventry to avoid a lower grade ... C- (almost bad) for his 6 from 4 balls, and 1 for 41 from 6 overs with 2 wides.

9. Enamul Haque: Was not named "Junior" by his parents and should not be called that. The Scholastica-inspired, agro-hick/nouveau rich habit must stop, ever since the gutless "Senior" has become one of the worst umpires in International cricket after leaving his stink as one of the worst slow bowlers in the arena. Haque bowled OK in a day not belonging to bowlers, but took the valuable wickets of Sean Williams and Brendan Taylor. His batting, by contrast, was frightening to watch before the cleverly bowled slower offcutter knocked off his bails and relieved us of the fright ... a generous B- (almost good) for his 2 for 56 from 10 overs and 5 from 6 balls.

10. Syed Rasel: Took 2 wickets for 53 in his 9.1 overs and survived the early onslaught. A lesser seamer would have been broken ... C+ ... almost above average.

11. Mohammad Nazmul Hossain: Took 2 wickets for 49 from his 8 overs with 1 wide ... C+ ... almost above average.

This match was more competitive that the last blowout only because Sean Williams, one of my favorite Zimbabwean cricketers alongside Vusi Sibanda, had the opportunity to show his class.

Speaking of class, Prosper Utseya doesn't seem to have any. SHAME on the Mugameland Skipper/"Yes Man" to violate the spirit of cricket and not allow his Bangladeshi counterpart a runner when Al Hasan was clearly suffering from back pain. Luckily for us, it was well beyond the "imagination" of the unimaginative and incompetent Mugameland TOKEN that a gutless move like that would be a blessing in disguise for Bangladesh.

Nothing short of a 5-0 THRASHING is acceptable now to put Utseya and Mugabeland in their rightful place, SEVERAL SHELVES BELOW OURS. The lovefest ends here! ...

[Sohel]

Originally Posted by Imteaz
Javed Miandad? So early

If you don't believe in jinxes, I certainly don't, I don't see why not ...

Miandad came from a superior cricket infrastructure in Karachi and Pakistan, but our Magura-born Shakib at 22 has done better at this stage. Miandad also never scored 104 from 63 in his entire career ... :conveniently avoids the 119* from 77 balls: ... +

[Foozy]

WOW! Sohel NR bhai this is an awesome thread where you are putting forth some real-time (almost) grading on the players every match plus more. I love it! I was actually avoiding this thread simply because of its title. I thought it was going to be a really dull thread. I guess the saying was right. Don't judge a book by its cover.

But if it was still at the early stages of the thread, I would have requested you to change the name of the thread.
...Just added 3 green arrows to it!

[Sohel]

MODS, can you please the change the Thread Title to "Match and Player Chronicles"?

Thanking you in advance ...

Thanks Foozy, much appreciated.

[nobody]

Sohel Vai, Nayeem came after Rokibul and I dont think Utseya break any spirit. Sakib was carrying injury to the match and the spirit should have been not to ask for the runner

[Sohel]

Originally Posted by nobody
Sohel Vai, Nayeem came after Rokibul and I dont think Utseya break any spirit. Sakib was carrying injury to the match and the spirit should have been not to ask for the runner

Thanks bro, I stand corrected on the batting order. Editing in the changes ...

We'll have to agree to disagree on the runner issue. An injured player asks for a runner and you give him one, it's as simple as that for me.

[BANFAN]

Originally Posted by Sohel NR
We'll have to agree to disagree on the runner issue. An injured player asks for a runner and you give him one, it's as simple as that for me.

Hope that would be as simple as that; We got to respect the rules of the game.

The rule says; if the injury/problem occurs during the match being played, only then he is authorised to ask for a runner. This is not the first time a player has been refused a runner for this reason. If the injury would occur during the match, Utseya would have no option/opinion.

[Imteaz]

Originally Posted by Sohel NR
If you don't believe in jinxes, I certainly don't, I don't see why not ...

Miandad came from a superior cricket infrastructure in Karachi and Pakistan, but our Magura-born Shakib at 22 has done better at this stage. Miandad also never scored 104 from 63 in his entire career ... :conveniently avoids the 119* from 77 balls: ... +

So optimistic. I am not brave enough.

[Rizvi]

Originally Posted by Tigers_eye
He has used up all his quotas. The luck he had can't even be compared with others. Where do you want me to start? 94 against England? How many can claim to be not out once the ball bounces on top of the wicket on a legit delivery? De Villiers hates Ash cause Ash has all the luck. Dusraful, HHS (Haste haste shesh). 1st slip catch against Ireland, can you recall? I can list so many....

HHS yes you're right. The Ireland one i still can't look past it. But recalling recent memory, I can't think of as many absolute freebie lives that Shakib, Zunaed, and the so-called Rock are accumtomed to...or even those edges that Tamim often find that always finds a landing.

Sure Ash is a moron and always picks out the cover fielder on those uppish drives, but a few chances for him would be gladly appeciated as well. Maybe it's harder to remember his freebies cuz he never seems to take advantage of them.

[Rizvi]

Originally Posted by BANFAN
Hope that would be as simple as that; We got to respect the rules of the game.

The rule says; if the injury/problem occurs during the match being played, only then he is authorised to ask for a runner. This is not the first time a player has been refused a runner for this reason. If the injury would occur during the match, Utseya would have no option/opinion.

Agreed. I had no problem with Utseya denying the request. Although Cricket is considered a gentleman's sports, sports as general is better served by not looking to make too many friends in the battlefield. Instead demonstrate the killer instinct for the opponent. Shakib shouldn't have played if the possibility existed of nuisance due to injury.

[Sohel]

No BanglaWash in southern Africa.

With Tatenda Taibu already out of the series and Sean Williams out nursing an injury, some over-confident Bangladeshi fans fantasized Zimbabwe to post a modest total after Vusi Sibanda and a suicidal Mark Vermeulen fell early. Then Charles Coventry also decided to commit suicide and those fans began to believe in their own emo-ideas.

Hamilton Masakadza had other ideas as did Brendan Taylor. Their excellent 142 run partnership created a solid base for the hosts to set up a threatening chase. Masakadza moved on to 102 from 112 balls to complete his maiden ODI century. Then came Elton Chigumbura to do what he does best: spank ordinary deliveries from rattled bowlers around the park with unmitigated aggression. He was on 58 from 28 balls when Taylor was tragically run out at 94 from 103, thanks to a good return throw from Roqibul Hasan charging in from deep cover.

Chigumbura finished 62 not out from 33 deliveries, taking Zimbabwe to 323 for 7 after 50 overs.

Bangladesh started the 324-run chase with one hand tied behind their back. The name of that self induced handicap: “opener” Mehrab Hossain with world class average of 16.73 with a marauding strike rate of 41.7 in ODIs. His classy 88 runs from 243 deliveries, that’s a magnificent strike rate of 36.2, in the last 10 of his 15 ODI innings no doubt justified his selection into the side. No doubt his ingenious 43 ODI runs from 85 deliveries earlier this year in Dhaka, almost amounting to 50% of his current batting form, more than guaranteed his insertion into the lineup in this critical match. Using the same logic, his other 9 scores of 2-2-1-0-3-2-12-15-8 can be ignored just as happily.

That said, the diminutive young man had lost even before the battle could be classified as one, as the Bangladeshi top order began its spectacular collapse from Tamim Iqbal’s first ball duck. By the time Hossain came in at number 8, after Mushfiqur Rahim and Mohammad Mahmudullah, and Roqibul Hasan departed at 33 and 19, the Fat Lady was already clearing her throat.

To his immense credit, Hossain scored a trademark 25 from 40 balls and at one point looked set to accompany Hasan to get his maiden ODI 100. Sadly, Hasan had other ideas and departed at 78 from 83 balls. Mahbubul Alam, after failing with the ball, came in to hit 3 consecutive, powerfully struck 6s for his from balls. Lusty blows reflecting his lust to maintain a place in the squad by whatever means necessary, meaning by trying equal the 84 runs he conceded as “bowler”. Alam ended the Bangladeshi innings at 254 with his maiden ODI 50. Zimbabwe won by 69 runs. Elton Chigumbura, also finishing 2 for in his 8 overs, was adjudged the Man of the Match.

Winning the match in the most convincing of styles, Zimbabwe pulled one back to trail Bangladesh 1-2 in the 5 match ODI series and promised to make it as competitive as originally anticipated. Bangladesh have a lot of think about and find their depth in the process. Moronic experimentation with team selection, perhaps due to an overconfident mindset, must the starting point back to sobriety.

1. Tamim Iqbal Khan: First ball duck, never acceptable for an opener. F! (failure) for the match.

2. Mohammad Naeem Islam: Forced to open the innings because of the self defeating substitution of Junaid Siddique for Mehrab “ODI-Opener” Hossain. What a brainless mess! The hugely underrated strokemaker, not used to the new ball, fell swinging blindly after hitting a boundary. Did not bowl … an F! (failure) for the match.

3. Mohammad Ashraful Motin: Became a virtual opener as so many number 3 Bangladeshi batters have become in the past. Had to consolidate and score with a newbie opener at the other end. Talk about pressure, challenge, and the opportunity for glory! Motin responded by top slashing away at Mupariwa at 9 from 15 deliveries. Did not bowl … an F! (failure) for the match.

4. Mohammad Roqibul Hasan: Also found himself, someone who does not sight the new ball well, as a virtual opener. Not a smart move but no real alternatives at moment. Batted very well under terrible circumstances and steadied the ship with Mushfiqur Rahim. Hasan scored 78 from 83 balls, his 6th ODI 50, and was the best of the Bangladeshi batsmen. Too bad he had to throw away his wicket to a part timer like Masakadza. Easily one of the best fielders in the ring, he drooped a dolly at mid-off when Bangladesh desperately needed the wicket. Later compensated some of that with a good throw to run Taylor out. He gets a B+ for his batting but a fielding mitigated, dropped a couple of catches (one of them difficult) B (good) for the match.

5. Shakib Al Hasan: Came to bat with his team in shambles. Started his innings with a couple of loose, mistimed strokes, and ended it with the loosest of them all. He departed after scoring 17 from 15 balls. Ball in hand, the Skipper finished 2 for 65 from his 10 overs with the third best economy for his team. To take nothing away from Masakadza, Taylor and Chigumbura, his captaincy, especially bowler management, was nothing to write home about. He didn’t do much about the lethargic fielding either. Al Hasan gets a D for his batting, C+ for his bowling and C- for his captaincy, taking him to a D- (almost failure) for the match.

6. Mohammad Mushfiqur Rahim: Came to bat when the match was already lost, pretty much, and batted well. Fell at 33 from balls because of half-hearted shot. Executed some regulation dismissals behind the stumps but again showed why he is simply not up to par at that position. The “Golden Boy” of Bangladeshi Cricket gets a B- for his batting and a C- for his keeping, taking him to a C+ (almost above average) for the match.

7. Mohammad Mahmudullah: Scored 14 from 19 deliveries when a little more was expected from him. Ball in hand, he was generous when almost nobody was miserly. Finished 0 for 14 in his 2 overs. He gets a D+ for his batting and D- for his ordinary bowling, taking him to a D for the match.

8. Mehrab Hossain: Came in for a disappointing Junaid Siddique, but why? Siddique has scored 217 runs, 157 without his highest (55) and lowest (1) scores in that run (47-0-0-1-3-36-23-55-21-27), in his last 10 innings compared to Hossain’s 88, a COLOSSAL 44 without his highest (43) and lowest (0) scores in that run (8-15-2-2-3-0-1-2-43-2). No longer an opener in domestic cricket, he was pushed into the slot at the highest level of the sport with predictable results. An unnecessary gamble that cost Bangladesh a top order wicket for only 9 runs. I understand his fans love him for reasons that have very little to do with his cricket in general, and his alleged batting in particular, but his inclusion in the match, if not the side, verges on criminal. Surely even his most fanatical supporters can just look at the numbers alone and temper their delusions. He scored 25 from 40 deliveries. To his credit, bowled as tightly as he can, finishing 0 for 56 from his 10 overs and his team’s second best economy. He gets an D+ for his batting and a C+ for his bowling, taking him to a C- (just about average) for the match.

9. Mahbubul Alam, AKA Robin: Batted well with vicious intent, scoring 57 from 43 balls with two 4s and three consecutive 6s for a maiden ODI 50! In for Nazmul Hossain, the other world class new bowler in the team, and provided the early breakthrough with a very good delivery to classy opener Vusi Sibanda. Then Mark Vermeulen, the other classy opener, gifted him his second. Bowled an excellent maiden over also. Other than that one good wicket and the maiden, Alam was as great as he usually is, generously conceding 34 from 4 overs (economy of 8.5 RPO) with a wide from his first spell. He added to his generosity during his second spell approaching an economy of 10. Yet his adulators, usually excellent fantasy cricketers who cannot seem to think outside the X-Box or trust their own eyes, think he’s the greatest thing since the Wa-Wa Swingers from Pakistan. It is tragic but not at all surprising that our genius selectors think the same to bring him where he clearly doesn’t belong. Alam finished 2 for 84 from 9 overs with a maiden and a wide. In light of his G8 economy of 9.3 RPO, he gets a very generous, purely batting and wicket-mitigated D+ (almost average).

10. Enamul Haque: Was the most economical of his fellow bowlers and finished with 0 for 41 in his 10 overs, team best economy of 4.1. Scored 3 from 6 balls … a solid B (good) for his efforts on a flat wicket.

11. Syed Rasel: Did well in his first spell before running into Chigumbura. Took the valuable wicket of Masakadza as the robust Zimbabwean experienced a lapse in concentration after his maiden ODI 100. Finished 1 for 59 from his 9 overs with 2 wides, economy of 6.55 … D+ (almost average).

[Nadim]

wow! that was quick Sohel bhai..

Nice read + grade.

[IanW]

7 D's, 2 Cs and 2Bs ... no-one would ever thing the side made it to 250 after the other guys hit pretty well.

OK, we lost ... but was it really worth these sort of marks ?

[WarWolf]

From CI about today's win

A month ago, the most Bangladesh had chased successfully was 250, a mark they have improved on twice since, a sign of the progress they have made.

[Sohel]

1. Tamim Iqbal Khan: Landmark innings for a Bangladeshi batsman with his 154 from 138 balls. He knows he should have finished the match but it didn't matter in the end ... a solid A (superior) for the co-MoM. had he remained not out, it would have been an easy A+. Next time ...

2. Junaid Siddique: Another good start blown in his 38 from 27 balls. Unnecessary shot but a good catch saw the end of him ... a B- (goodish) match.

3. Mohammad Ashraful Motin: The light is back on red with a labored 10 from 28 balls. Does that mean he'll have a better game on Tuesday? Who knows? Who cares! Bowled well for his 1 for 11 fro m 4 overs with a maiden. The wicket broke a partnership ... F! for his batting and a bowling mitigated D (below average) for the match. Did not field well.

4. Mohammad Roqibul Hasan: His dismissal was a blessing in disguise as he looked unlikely to up his SR and the RR. But he did put valuable runs on the board and built kept Tamim company after Mo put us in a hole ... a B- (goodish) for his 35 from 55 balls in the match.

5. Shakib Al Hasan: Accelerated the RR at the right time with his valuable19 from 12 balls, but should have stuck around. Ball in hand, he finished 0 for 70 in 9 overs with 3 wides. The way he manged his bowlers as captain, except for the insertion of Mo, was below average and counter productive. His worst match yet. The Skipper gets a generous C+ for his batting, and a couple of D-s for his bowling and captaincy, taking him to a D (below average) for the match.

6. Mohammad Mushfiqur Rahim: Departed way to early but his 15 from 15 was useful. Was typically shoddy behind the stumps. He gets a situational C for his batting, and a keeping mitigated D (below average) for the match.

7. Mohammad Mahmudullah: Finished the game in style with his classy 21 not out from 11 balls. Ball in hand, he finished 0 for 32 in 6 overs with 2 wides. He gets an A for his batting and a C- for his bowling, taking him to a B- (goodish) for the match. Dropped Coventry and did not field well.

8. Mohammad Naeem Islam: Scored 4 not out from 4 balls. Ball in hand, he finished 1 for 29 in his 5 overs ... a C (average) performance.

9. Mahbubul Alam: Was once again the most expensive bowler who was gifted a wicket early by Mark Vermeulen. His 2 for 63 from 8 overs with 5 wides is ordinary to all except his die hard, fantasy cricketer fans. He gets a generous, wicket mitigated D (below average) for the match.

10. Enamul Haque: Finished 2 for 51 in his 9 overs with a no-ball. Easily the best of the bowlers ... contextual B (good) for his efforts.

11. Syed Rasel: Dropped Charles Coventry and helped him, alongside Saheba and co, equal the highest ODI score in history at 194*. Ball in hand, he finished 1 for 52 from his 9 overs with a maiden and 2 wides. He gets a fielding mitigated C- (almost below average) for the match.

Important match and series win for Bangladesh, and landmark knocks from Charles Coventry and Tamim Iqbal. Looking forward to better bowling and fielding in match 5, the honor match for the hosts.

[Spitfire_x86]

If Tamim doesn't get an A+ for today's batting then either the rating is very harsh or very few batting performances deserve A+ status.

[alibangali]

sohel bhai was very generous on alam LOL.
Good to see no F's for any player in this ODI.

[BANFAN]

Originally Posted by alibangali
sohel bhai was very generous on alam LOL.
Good to see no F's for any player in this ODI.

u didnt check Ash Batting

[Rifat]

Sohel NR,

wanna work for the BCB?

If you get there, then perchance our selection policy will be much much more efficient and less embarrassing

[Rifat]

simple math: Drop Alam for last ODI...(maybe we will never see him again until he finally regains that "hyped form" many people saw last year from FC and academy cricket.)

[Rizvi]

Sohel Bhai,

you need to reconsider Tamims grade! Do u really believe Tamim and Riyad should get the same batting grade for this game...? I surely thought we were gonna see our first ever A++, but I'm shockingly dissapointed. At the end, due to the way he paced the innings and brought us to the situtaion we were in, simply finishing the game was a mute point... Especially with 30 odd needed with plenty of batsmen left while the entire powerplay on hand! Sure it would've been a better story to hear but I highy doubt IMO it deserves his grade to be affected. For god sakes, he scored 154, not too many touched those territories in the history of ODI cricket..!

[Zunaid]

Sohel - you better check yourself @ ratemyprofessor.com

I agree with Rizvi - Nirala != Riyad today. Your grade curve looks distorted.

[Gowza]

would have been nice for tamim to finish the match but he more than did his job, got the team to a winnable position. if you're going to downgrade anyone it should be raqibul, rahim, and ash.

junaid played a vital role, would have been nice for him to stay longer but he did his job. without his innings the team could have really struggled to be successful in this chase.

tamim was playing great, rotating well, boundaries occassionally with a strike rate of around 80-100 for alot of the innings which he took up a notch (to over 100) towards the end.

ash, just really poor batting, 10 off 28 isn't acceptable in ODI cricket no matter what part of your innings you are in, what position the team is in or the conditions. to get out with 10 from 28 is criminal when you're chasing 300+.

raqib, got vital runs but his strike rate was too low, it seemed like when the run rate dropped tamim was the one to play the big shot. in this match tamim was playing incredible, he should have been the anchor with raqibul upping the run rate.

rahim, check what i said about raqib and the same applies (though to a lesser extent). normally this would have been an good innings from rahim but the thing is tamim was doing a great job of rotating the strike and we needed him to last as long as possible, rahim should have been the one going for the big shots but instead he was happy to just get the 1s and 2s and put the pressure on tamim to play the big hits.

[Rifat]

notice:

He graded based upon overall performance...the reason why Nirala's and Riyad's grade ended up the same because Riyad dissapointed with the ball...note that Nirala doesn't ball...

Another Reason why I feel Sohel Bro didn't give Tamim A+ is because it is part of human nature to sit back and relax to stop working hard after the human feels that they have accomplished something...they have nothing more to give..surely everyone knows that Tamim's international career is far from over(fans want to see his peak for at least 8 more years) His survival of dropped catches also denies him an A++...but he was pretty close

[al Furqaan]

what we've learned from this last several ODIs.

1) batting order must be dynamic, does siddons, sakib, team management know this??? we can't have a static batting order, just like you can't play the same XI every single game.

2) dropping junaid for 3rd ODI possibly cost us a series whitewash.

3) alam is a poorer bowler than even shahadat in ODIs.

4) ash is a master at small chases (under 250), we saw in cardiff, first ODI, against NZ. he gets totally bogged down in pressure in big chases. if he can't do it in the flattest pitch against pedestrian zim bowlers, he just can't do it. he should bat at 5-7 when we're chasing big 300 totals. small target? keep ash at 3 or 4. that being said, i would like to see ash score 50+ in the final ODI, especially if we bat first to set up a big total.

5) after ICLers come back, aftab could definitely play at number 3 when we need to chase big targets or possibly open alongside tamim in case Junaid doesn't fix his technique, moving ash far down the order to blast out at the end. use ash as a chigumbura role, at best he could bat at 5 but no higher. sakib would be promoted to 4, rock stays at 5, ash could bat at 6, rahim at 7, riyad/naeem at 8, mash at 9, enam 10, rasel/rubel/nazmul 11