Cluster 11 said:
BD had a 1-4 record in the toughest schedule of all teams. BD was the only team in super eight which didn't face a lower ranked team in all it's matches.
I agree with you wholeheartedly here. All the other teams had an easy pass playing lower ranked teams than themselves, especially in the qualifying stage.
Bangladesh had to face West Indies and South africa in the first group. That was the biggest hurdle of all. I knew that they had beaten SA, but they had never beaten the Windians/also the Windians had huge hitters and I felt they would amass a huge score against BD which they might not have been able to defend, especially the way they batted at Wanderers with Chris Gayle going beserk. But after SA beat them, I was very doubtful about BD progressing to the super 8 stage.
Anyhow, that day I woke up with a positive feeling and felt that Ashraful and his boys will give their best performance. I also felt that this was the day that Ash will show his rare brilliance with the bat.
When i saw the next group BD was placed in to progress to the semi final,, I felt that they only had one chance and that was against Pakistan. I suspected that Australia and SL would choke these lads and indeed this happened. after seeing SL's performance against the OZ giving them catching practise, I had to reassess that BD young batsmen did better against the mighty Aussies.
They also did well to restrict SL's score and there the bowlers troubled these experienced batsmen a lot. I think Jayawardena was relieved when he was dismissed.
On the whole, our young boys did not fail badly, when you really analyse that this was the youngest team, most of them under 25, a few teenagers. Commentators commented on the youthfullness and inexperience of this team, but still felt that they have the talent to become better and therefore win more games against better ranked teams than themselves.
They went to SA, had great exposure, was popular, because everyone liked this very young team with their young captain. I heard Graeme Smith say that Bangladesh has a brilliant side in the post match interview. Hopefully, as Ash pointed out, that it was a great learning experience. They now have to practice seriously and believe in themselves like India and Pakistan and Inshallah, they will become better.
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