Game Over!

So that was the last match of the group Stage for Bangladesh. And now it was also the match of ICC World Cup for Bangladesh. Even after winning 3 of 6 matches, Bangladesh team couldn’t make it to the quarter-final.  Team was standing on two equations for that. First victory of West Indies against England and second, Bangladesh’s victory over South Africa. From the beginning we all knew Bangladesh will not satisfy the 2nd equation. So we all depended on the first equation. But unfortunately West Indies failed us after raising our hopes. They were so close to the victory but at the last moment they collapsed.

As the first equation didn’t work out, we had to depend on the second equation and that is Bangladesh’s victory over South Africa. And again unfortunately Bangladesh lost. They didn’t just lost, they lost with greatest shame. They scored only 78 for all wickets utilizing 28 overs.

As because Bangladesh is out, I have lost interest on the World Cup.  I was so excited and I really hoped and prayed that our team will go to the quarter-final stage.  And now all those excitements are gone. I am sure there are many people like me. Everyone is disappointed because of the poor performance. People are so ashamed they don’t want to wear the cricket team’s jersey anymore.  I am not that much sporty person. But yet I bought Bangladesh team’s jersey to show my support.  But now like many people, I might not wear this jersey ever again. It is really ironic that in our own country, we feel shame to wear the jersey and show our support to the national team.

After shameful 58 & 78, in future, people will not expect much from this team. But the fact is that it is the only cricket team we got. This is the team that represents our country. So, no matter what happens, we have to support out team. And we will continue to do it. We have to remember that we are still growing. we already have achieved some achievements. I hope cricket board will take right initiatives to better in next time. Till then we hope for the best and enjoy the rest of the matches.

Related Articles

• Bangladesh eliminated after loss to South Africa (theglobeandmail.com)
• Now or never for Bangladesh (espncricinfo.com)
• England through after South Africa win (guardian.co.uk)

 

End of Mighty February!!

Today is the last day of mighty February (by the time I’ll finish this post, the day will be already over). You might think why I called February “Mighty”. International Mother Language day was this month but it is not the reason. I called it mighty because so many important or interesting things happened to me through out this month.

Let me start with field trip with YES! . It was my last field trip with YES! and any kind of tours under the banner of North South University. That means  I have finished one part of my university life have already. 😦 [more about the field trip will be in future post]

Then it was the month of break! we got about 5 day break in the middle of the month. This break was blessings for me because I was literally stressed out with quizzes and assignments. Talking about the break reminds me occasion of the break. It was for the Inauguration ceremony of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in Bangladesh, inauguration match of World cup and the  language martyr day[also the  International Mother Language day].

As I was saying, inauguration ceremony was held in Dhaka. It was because Bangladesh is one of the co-hosts of this world cup.  This is the first time Bangladesh is hosting World Cup. Now, I had an opportunity to watch and be a part of history of Bangladesh cricket. I couldn’t go to the first math but I went to watch Bangladesh vs Ireland match. I saw how Bangladesh team beat the Ireland team and started the winning round. It was very exciting match  and I enjoyed every moments of it.

I have started writing small poems in this months. It’s not new for me but I actually never shared them with others. But this time I am writing it on Facebook Note and sharing it with others.

The most important thing happened was my friend Sifat’s farewell party. On 26th we old friends got together had a party before Sifat leaves the country.  And I also missed last the opportunity to stay over at Sifat’s place. I wanted to stay but I didn’t have the option to stay. Anyway, It was a great party. We sure will miss Sifat. I think I already started to miss him…:(

There are few other things happened this month…like I threw a surprise party on my sister’s birthday, I missed any quiz for the first time in NSU life.

Also, for the first time, I had more than 200 visitor in this month. It is the highest number of viewers of my blog in a particular area. Last month it was 187.

In February, so many things happened for the first time or for the last time. So I have nothing to call it except “Mighty February”.

One big mistake and fall of tigers….

India is the winner of very first match of ICC World Cup 2011. Though I don’t want to acknowledge it but still this is the fact. But I have no regret for supporting Bangladesh team. They played very well. And I’m very proud for them.

It was very painful for Bangladesh team supporters to watch how Indian innings started. Sehwag and Tendulkar gaving an amzing start for India. They were creating a pressure on Bangladesh from the start. Fortunately Tendulkar was run-out by Shakib Al Hasan and which brought back hope for the tigers‘ supporters. But Sehwag survived to make sure the pressure keeps building. He playing a great innings of 175 runs. I’ll give more credit to Bangladeshi bowlers  than Sehwag. Because balling of Bangladeshi bowlers wasn’t up to the mark. None of the pacers could ball following the line and length. This is the point when I started missing Mashrafi. Also fielding was very poor. Sakib couldn’t arrange fielders in right way. As a result India scored 370 which have shaken Bangladesh team’s confidence.

Tigers had a perfect start too. They scored 51 runs just in 5 overs. Thanks to Imrul Kayes for the quick runs. But soon he had to leave the field. His out was a misfortune. After Kayes left, run rate for tigers became bit slow. After 15 overs Bangladesh scored 95 runs. And after the 50 overs, Bangladesh scored 283 runs for 9 wickets. It was a very good innings for Bangladesh. But there was only one problem. Tigers could not use the batting power play properly. They lost 3 wickets for 30 runs. Instead of collecting runs Bangladesh lost few wickets. Other than this 283/9 is a very good fighting score.

There is only one mistake, as I see,  which is the reason for tigers’ downfall. And that is “choosing to field first after winning the toss“. I don’t know why Shakib or Bangladesh team took this decision but it sure was suicidal. W G Grace once said, “When u win the toss then Bat, if in doubt, Think, then Bat, if in more doubt, consult a team-mate, then Bat”. I’m sure Bangladesh Team forgot that. Beside I don’t see any logic for choosing fielding first. At the middle of day there is no dew reason to think about. I think Bangladesh team didn’t consider that batting in floodlight is more difficult than batting in daylight. Also Mirpur Stadium was a batting pitch. So there is no point in fielding first.

If, only if, Shakib and authorities had chosen to bat first, result could be other way around. If Bangladesh could score the same 283/9  in the first innings, they could create pressure on India. Also they could take the advantage of floodlight. And ultimately tigers could start the world cup with a win. But any kind of analysis is now worthless. What happened is already happened. There is no way to change it. But this learning should guide the tigers to future decisions.

Finally I want to congratulate tigers for the match.Specially Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Rakibul Islam, Mahmudullah for keeping their head cool. Tigers played really well. I hope they will continue this performance in the next matches. And they will win all the matches and make us proud.

 

Isn’t it time for a flag??

It’s almost time. Count down time has come to the last hours. Now less than 24 hours remains before the largest cricket tournament starts. Tomorrow with the inauguration ceremony, Cricket World Cup will starts its one and half month-long journey.

This is the first time Bangladesh is hosting such a big event.  And Bangladesh is now ready for successfully host the event. BCB and Govt. upgraded  tje stadiums in Dhaka and Chittagong and decorated those two towns  wonderfully. I have seen few pictures of the stadiums and areas  around those stadiums. They look so nice that at first I didn’t believe it is in Bangladesh. But yet all the preparation is not perfect. There are some mismanagement. But I guess we can ignore those mismanagement because we are hosting such a big event for the first time. May be we will be perfect in next time.

Talking about mismanagement, Ticket distribution was the largest one. But still our people were patient enough to stand in queue for 2 days. This indicates how much excited we are for the world cup tournament.  And I guess we are so excited that we forgot to rise our national flag to show our support our national team.

During the FIFA world cup, entire Dhaka city dressed with  the flag of Brazil, Argentina, England and other countries. No one raised Bangladesh’s flag because Bangladesh didn’t play in FIFA World Cup. But what about now? Bangladesh in playing in ICC World Cup and it is hosting the tournament. So It should place even more flag that we did during FIFA world cup.

There is a logic for not placing and flag. That is flags placed during in FIFA world cup to show which team the person supports. There were different flags because people were supporting different nations. But this time everyone is supporting only one team and that is our national team. So people are thinking, I guess, “there is no point showing which team I am supporting”. But still we should raise flag and show our support to the national team. This is the least thing we can do and I’m sure this is not too late for that.