Editorial
Bangladesh cricket saga
Big match temperament lacking
Bangladesh cricket team has come back from the much-hyped ICC World Twenty20 Championship in South Africa with no feather added to its cap. Except for a few flashes of individual brilliance, the performance as a team was anything but lacklustre, especially when a tournament like Twenty20 demands the very best in all the departments. By ensuring a well-fought six-wicket victory over West Indies, Bangladesh reached the second round in style, thus raising hope in the minds of the countrymen. And this needs to be mentioned that the Bangladesh team captain Ashraful had even etched his name in the history book by scoring the fastest fifty in that match (which was however broken later by Yuvraj Singh of India). Nevertheless, the general feeling among the cricket pundits was that the young side would add the expected spice to the tournament. Unfortunately, it was not to come.
The team began to go on the back foot once it started to face other teams in the second round thereby displaying sheer lack of game planning and skill to improvise on the field. If in one game the bowlers failed to do their job, in the other batsmen batted in a bizarre fashion to lose by a large margin. To be candid, the young captain could not convince us that he had a brilliant cricketing brain to improvise on the field and thus change the course of the game to his favour. He is a talented player no doubt but captaincy is a different ballgame altogether.
By beating West Indies Bangladesh team once again proved to be a side that killed giants on a given day, but failed to be consistent in performance to win matches on a regular basis. Statistics of performance in the last few major international games clearly indicate that Bangladeshi cricketers lack the big match temperament and the much needed killer instinct.
There is no denying that by playing tournaments in various countries Bangladesh cricket team is gaining experience. Playing technique, speed, pitch condition and weather vary from place to place and one has to be able to adapt to these conditions to become a seasoned player. We hope our players are learning from all the tours and improving their own technique to be able to win matches in a consistent manner.
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