Unconvincing Win Vs A Respectable Loss

[DJ Sahastra]

The first ODI has definitely played a precursor to a series that will see lot of fight from Bangladesh team and a a wholesome if not definite pointer on what direction the authorities back home will have to look at to find a solution to India's woes.

First the Tigers - they have definitely grown from the gentle cubs of the yester years to an adolescent prone to mistakes but also capable of kills. And those kills are gonna come at regular and increasing frequencies is a fact that has escaped none. They have proved that their world-cup performance - banking on outright mediocre to absolutely stunning - is an apt prelude to the way their cricket is shaping up. The cricketing world should be prepared to see more of the latter - the stunners - than the formers.

The batting has grown into quite a mixture of raw aggression as shown by the likes of Tamim to flashy brilliance as shown by Ashraful to calm and solid batting that is now coming with surprising regularity from Javed Omar. In between, batsman like Saqibul and Aftab have pitched their own blend.

The bowling remains the key potent factor in the rise of the Tigers. Mashrafe has introduced respectability at the top level while the trio of spinners - Rafique, Razzaq, Saqibul - have grown up in their own might and are quiet capable of everything from suffocating the batting line-up to running away with outright kills.

In between, a few problems remain but nothing that is not entirely unexpected from a team that has only just opened up it's wings and learnt to fly.

The things don't quite look rosy for the Indian side though. The damage to the Indian Cricket from the Chappel saga - without holding Chappel as the sole culprit - is immense and disturbing.

The batting looks lost and bowling quiet ordinary. Shewag needs to tell himself that the expectations from him are only what he was already well-known for. Likes of Mongia and Gambhir don't inspire any confidence and the likes of Uthappa are yet to be tested in real terms. Raina and Kaif's demise as batsman has been as much sad as disappointing - both very valuable in field and quite gifted. And Sachin's problems are that he has no problems beyond the mental shell he keeps dragging himself into - something that has no easy fix. Repeated injuries aren't helping him either.

The bowling looks even more ordinary. Pathan's demise as a bowler is inexplicable while equally intriguing is the case of Ajit Agarkar & Harbhajan. Agarkar remains the only Indian bowler who hits 140 mark with sheer regularity while staying as the top of wicket-taker, while Harbhajan's economy rate was among the top-notch. Yet one hasn't learnt to keep his line and length even after so many years of leading the attack and the other has lost his wicket-taking ability. Both have been dropped for single reason - to see if they have more worthwhile successors.

There are very few positives for India to take home from the win - Dhoni among runs, Karthik chipping in for permanent slot and being able to successfully chase 250+ to win can sum up the whole of it. The shortcomings look quite glaring - very ordinary fileding efforts, very ordinary bowling and a batting that refuses to inspire any confidence.

For Bangladesh, there are definite positives. Tamim seems set to spoil Zaheer's party on this tour enroute to gladdening the hearts of BD supporters. Sakibul is showing signs of greater things and Omar's homecoming has been perfect so far. Bashar seems to be the only weak link so far and given his experience, one only hopes he'll get better.

In all, today's result sums up the stark contrast between the two teams - one managing to pull off the win despite playing a below average cricket for the most part of the day and only because of the sheer brilliance of 2 of it's players while the other seemed to have won the most part of the race with a good collective effort only to falter at the finishing line.

[Dhakablues]

At the end,, the heroic acts of Sakibs dive to catch the ball or the beautiful sixes by Omar will be forgotten,,, it will only remain as India beat Bangladesh by 5 wickets. The game of sport is too easy,, black or white. You win or you lose nothing in between. And today, Bangladesh lost to an opponent that lacked any color, flair or charishma. that will not be in the history books. It will be just the figures that will remain.

[DJ Sahastra]

DhakaBlues,

Wer have lost too many matches were we were the better team but denied the win.

So i can understand your frustration.

In my opinion, your team did well and that is good thing to take home to.

[sadi]

The sad part is we will not learn from our mistakes and will do the same mistakes again in the next match. For example, Bashar will remain as defensive as he can be. Bashar will score below 20 once again.

[Miraz]

I never take anything from "respectable defeats". I hate the term (my very personal opinion).

A win is a win, I don't mind playing rubbish and end the day with a win.

No credit playing superbly and end up losing the match.

It's all losers' talk.

[Morpheous]

Originally Posted by sadi
The sad part is we will not learn from our mistakes and will do the same mistakes again in the next match. For example, Bashar will remain as defensive as he can be. Bashar will score below 20 once again.

20???,.....Je Obsotha 20 is lot to Bashar.....He is making "Mudi" (0)

[Tigers_eye]

In the past one year our coaches, managers have failed to show Bashar some attacking screen shots of other teams? In the time of his career while batting he has failed to see any attacking ploy by other great captains against him or his runners? I find hard to believe that Bashar doesn't know how to set an attacking field. I think it is the belief Bashar has that defensive field setting can only bring success which is so wrong.

if you think you are not making any mistake then you certainly wouldn't know how to fix it in the first place. I am looking forward to Post Bashar era.

[CTazim]

Bashar is the bona fide example of stupidity. He is deserving of being the "Hajar Bochorer Shrestho Habla."

He is a pathetic excuse of a cricket player let alone captain of the national team.

^$%^&*( #$$$% &&***!@#$ (expletive deleted by author before printed).

[khalifa]

That's a very nice analysis, DJ. I was and still am heartbroken after the loss from a wining position. It's not everyday that we can bat this well, and I see to it as a golden opportunity lost to set the tone of the entire series. Anyway, at the same time, I was feeling that after all there were something positive to take from this game, and your piece nicely puts into word about these positives.
Hopefully, just hopefully, we'll bounce back in the next game.

Wow Miraz Bhai...I always thought you try to find positives from every situation....the tide is turning?

[sadi]

Originally Posted by Tigers_eye
if you think you are not making any mistake then you certainly wouldn't know how to fix it in the first place. I am looking forward to Post Bashar era.

Ditto.

[Tigers_eye]

Originally Posted by jay
....i heard javed did amazingly well and that Bashar was out after two balls........is this true?....oh and can someone please tell me how many runs ashraful and the rest after him did........it would be really nice.......thank you............
XxX.............jay.............XxX

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/bdes...ch/282688.html

[cricket_dorshok]

Originally Posted by jay
This game like totally sounded interesting but unfortunately for me back in England the game starts at 4:30am and i'm busy a sleep getting rest for my major exams, anyways i only watched a bit of the match when Javed omar belim was batting really well then he was out and Saakib also went out.........i heard javed did amazingly well and that Bashar was out after two balls........is this true?....oh and can someone please tell me how many runs ashraful and the rest after him did........it would be really nice.......thank you............
XxX.............jay.............XxX

you will get everything on cricinfo.com

[cricket_dorshok]

Originally Posted by Tigers_eye
if you think you are not making any mistake then you certainly wouldn't know how to fix it in the first place. I am looking forward to Post Bashar era.

T_E bhai, silen to cat (JO era), holen Tiger (post JO era, kintu JO era abar fire esese r apni Tiger e roye gelen!).
erpor ki hoben, din to ese jasse!

[jay]

Thank you tigers_eye and cricket_dorshok ...thats really nice of you both.......
XxX............jay..............XxX

[DJ Sahastra]

Originally Posted by Miraz
I never take anything from "respectable defeats". I hate the term (my very personal opinion).

A win is a win, I don't mind playing rubbish and end the day with a win.

No credit playing superbly and end up losing the match.

It's all losers' talk.

Miraz,

It's your personal opinion and given the disappointment, fair enough.

However, from where i stand, it's a game and while win is very important, i don't think that anything anything less than a win should deprive the team of the credit it rightly deserves.

Losses are painful and at times, disappointing. But wins and losses aren't everything.

Somewhere between a win and a loss is the evaluation and credit/discredits. If there were no evaluations, we won't have so many posts/write-ups/discussionbs/analyses. The evaluation, while depending upon the result to a fair extent, cannot be based on the final outcome alone.

Credits are for performances and not the result alone.

Again, those are my personal opinions.

[Ahmed_B]

Originally Posted by DJ Sahastra
Somewhere between a win and a loss is the evaluation and credit/discredits. If there were no evaluations, we won't have so many posts/write-ups/discussionbs/analyses. The evaluation, while depending upon the result to a fair extent, cannot be based on the final outcome alone.

[AsifTheManRahman]

Come on guys, don't be so disappointed. Do you expect our players to beat India ten times out of ten? We are gradually getting to a point where we can be equally dangerous as any of the top eight and this match was just a proof of that. I thought we played a good game; sure we lost, but Indian cricket is far ahead of ours, and they have chased down stiff targets so many times before.

Besides, this is only the first game of the series.

[Tokai]

Respectable loss is like honest policeman. Does not go together.

[fai_hasan]

it feels really sad when we lose like this, specially because of few foolish decision by team management and the captain. we are sad, and really feeling bad.

[TheWatcher]

I find this defeat hard to accept more so because Indians played some poor cricket (batting, bowling, fielding) but still managed to get away with a win.

[Sovik]

Originally Posted by Miraz
I never take anything from "respectable defeats". I hate the term (my very personal opinion).

A win is a win, I don't mind playing rubbish and end the day with a win.

No credit playing superbly and end up losing the match.

It's all losers' talk.

its not always the case. how about semifinal between south Africa and Australia in 1999 world cup.

[Miraz]

Originally Posted by sovik
its not always the case. how about semifinal between south Africa and Australia in 1999 world cup.

"Respectable defeat" is the term used for teams like Bangladesh by cricket pundits.

This term is not applicable for Australia or SA

[Ahg984]

Originally Posted by DJ Sahastra
....In all, today's result sums up the stark contrast between the two teams - one managing to pull off the win despite playing a below average cricket for the most part of the day and only because of the sheer brilliance of 2 of it's players while the other seemed to have won the most part of the race with a good collective effort only to falter at the finishing line.

You are not taking into consideration that the pitch was much better for batting during BD innings than IND innings. Also IND batsmen seemed comfortable at the crease until they gifted away their wickets and dug themselves into a hole. Nonetheless, BD played quite well and made IND work hard for their win.

[max1]

As an Indian fan, I was extremely relieved that we escaped with a victory. At 140/5 the match was 75% in Bangladesh's grasp. Totally agree with Miraz's post above. Bangladesh though have shown that they can compete with India on a consistent basis in ODI's. At least the last 4-5 head-to-head matches between the two teams has shown that. So they should not lose heart and try and win the next match.

[cricket_king]

Respectable loss? Pfft....yeah whatever