BanglaCricket Article

One Day Cricket is a batsman's game. If the batsman can't do well, then there is no way that you can win. There is a very common terminology in cricket - 'catches win matches'. But I have seen teams, in particular Sri Lanka to win matches after batting better, even if a few catches are dropped.

All these years of supporting Bangladesh, I have never came to realize this above mentioned fact that one day cricket is a batsman's game and that in order to win One Day International matches, you have to bat better, UNTIL TODAY.

I did not see best bowling performance by a Bangladeshi, i.e., Saiful Islam's 4/36, which record remained for more than a decade; however, I have seen Khaled Mahmud's bowling performance of 4/19, and I am proud that he could do it at such an ultimate time of his International career.

This is an ulimate time for him because after today, he can proudly retire from International cricket, as a great fighter, WITH EITHER THE BAT OR BALL.

Having said that, he could not have taken all those wickets if the fielders had not taken some brilliant catches.

Like all the close lost matches over the last year, this match too, was somewhat influenced by bad decisions of the umpires. Until one moment, I was thinking of not requiring to write this paragraph at all, until at the very last possible moment. Heath Streak was out leg before off Tareq Aziz when the Zimbabwe score was on 130.

And if anybody had seen this match, or had seen this series, or even the last few series that Zimbabwe had been playing, I believe that he would agree with me if I say that Heath Streak is THE MAN. If he's out, then Zimbabwe is out of the game, and if he's in, then Zimbabwe is in the game.

In all the heat of the moment, any Bangladeshi cricket fan would wonder where is Rafique? Because if he had been in the final eleven, then may be Zimbabwe had needed a few more overs to win than they actually did.

In the first One Dayer, Bangladesh had some pretty good fortunes, along with some hard work, which resulted in such a well-cherished victory. But we have to remember that it is not always possible to have the same good fortune.

After all, how many days, in how many matches can we proudly look back and say that if it were not for this player or that player, we would have won the match?