World Cup Preview : Bangladesh is Aiming the Launch of a World Beating Force

[Miraz]

World Cup Preview: Bangladesh is aiming the launch of a world beating force

Khondaker Mirazur Rahman


The memories of World Cup cricket brings some mixed impressions to the mind of Bangladeshi cricket fans. Before gaining full member status Bangladesh fought strenuously to feature in the world stages and only succeeded in 1999 after winning ICC trophy 1997 by defeating Kenya.

Bangladesh’s arrival in the World Cup cricket created more noise than expected. After narrowly defeating Scotland at Edinburgh, Bangladesh emerged as the better team in the famous clash against Pakistan at Northampton although the result has subsequently been masked in mystery.

Bangladesh hit their lowest in International Cricket at World Cup 2003. A hapless Bangladesh suffered hammering defeats against all oppositions including amateur Canada.

Bangladesh opted for Dav Whatmore, the mentor of Sri Lankan renaissance after the world cup to turn the fate around. Dav succeeded largely to make Bangladesh a more competitive side and earned crucial victories against World Champions India, Sri Lanka and finally Australia. Bangladesh received an unofficial breathing space of 10 months in 2006 when they only featured against minnow countries except ICC Champions trophy. It seemed to work for Bangladesh as they have won 17 out of 20 matches they have played against Zimbabwe, Kenya and Scotland.

Now, another world cup cricket is knocking at the door. Bangladesh is placed in group B along with Sri Lanka, India and Bermuda in the Caribbean edition of World Cup. Bangladesh has already reached the Caribbean and building up the momentum before playing the gala event. They started their campaign well after winning the tri-series involving Canada and their group mate Bermuda.

Most cricket pundits are taking it as quite obvious that Bangladesh will take the same fate like two previous outings where they failed to propel themselves beyond initial stages. On the other hand, Bangladesh is going to this world cup with a completely different frame of mind. For the first time, they are expecting to lift themselves to the next round. Their maverick coach Dav Whatmore and captain Habibul Bashar have already made their intention public.


Now, to progress into the second round ahead of either Sri Lanka or India might look fanciful but not impossible as they have defeated them before. Bangladesh is becoming a good ODI outfit and has good record behind them over the last one year. The only problem is the difference of level of cricket they played over this period and World Cup. Bangladesh achieved the confidence from their successes against relatively weaker oppositions. Now for world cup success; they have to use that confidence to change the gear in their pursuit of winning a second round berth. They have potential and players to realize their astounding dream. The big question remains whether they will be able to change the level of cricket and translate potential into performance?

But in Shahriar Nafees, they have uncovered an opener who is more than capable of the anchor role with controlled aggression required to allow the likes of Mohammad Ashraful and Aftab Ahmed to extravagance the batting display. They are taking a gamble with boom boom Afridi style opener Tamim Iqbal who can turn the match around in his days and can be destructive in small Caribbean grounds. Captain Habibul Bashar and young all-rounder Sakib Al Hasan are hitting the form in right time. Inclusion of former U19 captain Mushfiqur Rahim as wicket keeper gave the side much needed balance in batting.

Mashrafe Mortaza and Shahadat Hossain are providing a little of the new-ball pace and aggression they lacked for years. The slow left arm army of Bangladesh is keen to exploit the slow surfaces expected in the West Indies. Mohammad Rafiq and Abdur Razzak are two world class spin bowlers and Sakib Al Hasan is becoming increasingly confident in his bowling. The lack of variation is a real worry against spin maestro nations like India or Sri Lanka, still they have got the much needed disciplines of one day bowlers.


Having said these, it is highly probable that Bangladesh will make an early exit from the world cup but taking them lightly will turn the world cup dream of one of the title contenders into nightmare.


Photo : Tigers have to do everything right on the field for WC success.


The truth about Bangladesh cricket is undeniably that their paramount is becoming more visible after each and every series. A young side with average age of 22 and so much potential can only get better. A country with 150 million population and crazy fan base for cricket will be a powerhouse of world cricket in time. Bangladesh is rescheduling their emergence time every year and will be required to do so until they frame a standard domestic infrastructure. Until then, patience is the key with perseverance and discipline. Whatmore, or one of his successors, will need ample more of that endurance before the incentives become evident. Before reaching that mark, they have to do everything right on the field and expect others to make mistakes to extract some gold on the way.

Bangladesh is aiming to fight hard to realize their dream. Whatever happens to their world cup endeavor, they want to send one clear message about the emergence of a new powerhouse of cricket. They are aiming to use the world cup as the launching pad of a world beating force.

[fwullah]

Beaten IND, SL once.

Can we do that again?

[layperson]

Originally Posted by fwullah
Beaten IND, SL once.

Can we do that again?

Abar jigay !!!!!!! Wait and watch. Come the 17th of March, India will be put to its rightful place.

[Miraz]

Originally Posted by fwullah
Beaten IND, SL once.

Can we do that again?

Every possibility is there.

Even if they fail, they will show something different. I am quite sure about that.

[mac]

Jitboi!!!

[Miraz]

Originally Posted by mac
Jitboi!!!

Good confidence. I hope our boys have the same determination.

Cricket fans around the globe are counting Bangladesh quite high. Some posts from different forums

Somebody pointed out rightly that this is the only group to look for upsets!! India will face the challenge of thier lives from Bangladesh!! I will not be surprised if india fails to proceed in the super 8

Yes i agree with u Miraz and you just cant trust the Indians they lose just too easily sometimes and we have seen this many a time .I think if Bangladesh can maintain the pressure then the Indians might just succumb to it .

Banglas shall upset the world by qualifying along with Sri Lanka to the super eights after tonking Bermuda and India whilst giving Sri Lanka quite the run for their money

My prediction

Mortaza will shine in this WC inshallah, with the ball and with the bat

Razzak is also another bowler, who should not be underestimated.

Other keys players like Shahriar Nafees, Aftab Ahmed and the veteran Mohammad Rafique.

If Sri Lanka and India think they will have it easy against Bangladesh, they can think again.

bangladesh is going to defeat lanka

Bangladesh has the potential to beat SL .

I personally will be praying this doesn't happen, but Bangladesh is the only Team capable of upsetting the charts and getting into next round.

The arrogance of the World Cup organisers in dismissing the teams outside of top 8 as not capable of making past the preliminary round deserves an upset to show them up for what they are !!

For that reason I would love Bang to go through and the World Cup organisers to have egg on their face.....But not at the expense of Sri Lanka.

Bangladesh to beat India - certainty.

TBH I feel Bangladesh could beat India and I know alot of people will disagree but the Banglas don't have a bad one day team and with batting like Shahriar Nafees,Aftab Ahmed,Habibal Bashar and Mohammed Ashraful and bowling including Mashrafe Mortaza there's every chance of a shock knowing India's inconsistency.

I think Bangladesh could push one of the two favourites close and possibly cause an upset.

it would be great if bangladesh has its one of their few and rare good days against either india or sri lanka and win then it would have to win against bermuda then they might actually go to the next round if the top team has 3 wins...so this group is actually going to be competive(well its all up to bangladesh to make things interesting)...

If Ashraful gets going anything is possible, just hope that isn't against Sri Lanka.

None of these posters are Bangladeshi.

[fuzzy]

they got more chance of beatin india then srilanka. iam know they will beat them, it won't b a surprise many might think so.

[gatekeeper]

Originally Posted by shahriyar
Abar jigay !!!!!!! Wait and watch. Come the 17th of March, India will be put to its rightful place.

Bless you.

[series]

Inshaallah we win

[Rabz]

Inshallah we will win..
But come 17th of March...looks like we are putting all our eggs on that busket...
Hope they hatch on time...

[Imteaz]

We Must Have to Prove in World Cup....................Otherwise.................. ......

[mhj007]

i think we must go through to the super eight or at least perform that well that the world could see us emerging as a new force in cricket..and i think and hope our players will do this.
Junior

[Tigers_eye]

looks like this is the rah rah thread.!!
Yup! Jitboi. We have the potential to win not to upset.

(if we defeat Srilanka, then anything less than the cup would be dissapointed)

Nice article. Should be in the front page.

[akabir77]

http://www.prothom-alo.org/archive/n...yNg==&fid=Ng==

Read this article. where bulbul goes back to that pak-bd match...

I know its off topic but i think miraz bhai mentioned about the wc game...

[Duck]

Here I am copy-pasting my words posted in another thread.........

May be a tone like a pessimist; but realistically BD still does not have the ability to defeat either SL or IND in this coming matches. Because this is not a 3-match home series in BD against any of these two teams. In a series like these we can take chances of their unpreparedness and pull off an upset.

Here it is a different ball game. They will be cautious and will not leave any of their guns untried! It would be just like the last Champions Trophy, when you count on BD for a win to capitalize for a ticket for the second round, BD cant shine!

I hope BD will prove me wrong. I still pray that BD will not just glitter but shine on and burn every opponent it faces!

Miraz: its a good read, indeed. (banglai: challu hoisey.... )

[AsifTheManRahman]

yes, i agree with you, duck. i think the world cup will just be another one of those quadrangular tournaments for us. and this isn't pessimism - it's just being realistic.

[Ehsan]

There is no need to get carried away. I just got three words for ya: wait and watch.

[Tigers_eye]

Bulbul's article was very touching! Thanks akabir77.

[Faisal]

Lets go for win guys, No matter what

[akabir77]

Originally Posted by Tigers_eye
Bulbul's article was very touching! Thanks akabir77.

thanks. he also mentioned how he coped with the x captains and such...

[Spitfire_x86]

Originally Posted by Miraz
Even if they fail, they will show something different. I am quite sure about that.

Everyone can be sure about that. The probability of replicating an older scorecard is almost zero

[Sauron]

I was watching Bulbul on Channel-I "Taroka Kothon" couple of days ago. He said at multiple occasions and in multiple ways that excluding Pilot was a bad thing. He said we should wish the your kid Mushfique good luck, but Pilot should have been picked.

I did not like his take on it. He seems personally biased towards Pilot.

Anyway, liked the prothom alo story.

[Murad]

akramer ojhone.. chair venge geche?? hahaha that was funnyy

but the story ic nice..

[Tendulkar_Mcgrath]

Miraz bhai, before telling anything... i wanna say a word..."awesome" . its about ur writting about bangladesh cricket Team.
Like you i also hope and pray Bangladesh at least should make the big teams struggle on their journey to super eight.

[Niceman70]

Originally Posted by akabir77
http://www.prothom-alo.org/archive/n...yNg==&fid=Ng==

Read this article. where bulbul goes back to that pak-bd match...

I know its off topic but i think miraz bhai mentioned about the wc game...

can some one translate that article into english..plzz