There are two Bangladesh’s that play cricket. One that can upset any big team on a given day, and another that just doesn’t turn up sometimes. On Thursday against Sri Lanka at Melbourne, the latter Bangladesh turned up. The Mashrafe Mortaza-led side just did not seem to be in any sort of rhythm for the day. They sprayed the ball all over the park, and dropped many sitters. When it was their turn to bat, the experimented unnecessarily, and in the end, fell way short of the massive target that the Sri Lankans had set them.
When the day began, Bangladesh would have hoped for a much better performance than they eventually came up with. After all, they have faced Sri Lanka a few times now in the Asia Cup, and most of their players are not novices. But, their bowlers just could not get into any sort of rhythm against Sri Lanka. Lahiru Thirimanne and Tillakaratne Dilshan flayed the Bangladesh bowlers all over the park, and the bowlers had not answer to the same. Kumar Sangakkara also had it extremely easy against Bangladesh bowlers in his 400th ODI. The fact that Bangladesh claimed only one wicket in 50 overs was indication enough of how poorly they bowled.
Bangladesh were always going to struggle once they were chasing 330 plus. But, the most disappointing aspect of their performance was that they just did show any kind of application with the bat. Tamim Iqbal was unlucky to have got a great delivery from Lasith Malinga early on. But, three of their next four batsmen were dismissed after getting into the 20s, which is just not acceptable at the top level. The experienced Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim also batted lower down the order, which was rather puzzling. Sabbir Rahman’s half-century was the only pleasing aspect for Bangladesh.
For Sri Lanka, the massive win was a much-needed relief. After a poor start to the tournament against New Zealand, and a not so impressive effort in their previous encounter, they displayed their class against Bangladesh. Dilshan and Sangakkara batted with plenty of flair and dominated the Bangladesh bowlers. Thirimanne also chipped in with an important half-century. Among their bowlers, Lasith Malinga and Suranga Lakmal gained some confidence by scalping five wickets among themselves. The Lankans would now look to build on this much-needed success.
--By A Cricket Analyst
