The performance of the Bangladesh Cricket team from here on would prove whether or not the historic ODI series win against South Africa is a flash in the pan. There is no doubt that winning the first match by 38 runs and the last by 9 wickets are huge achievements by team tigers struggling to find its feet in recent time. South Africa though less experienced even compared to the Bangladesh team was in great form having whitewashed strong India in the ODI series a couple of months ago. Moreover, Bangladesh never won any match in 20 years against South Africa in 20 years. What made Bangladesh turning the table on favorite home team?
Bangladesh in the series after a while had the service of their four world-class vastly experienced players Tamim, Shakib, Mushfique and Mahmudullah. Each of these players over the last 13-15 years played more matches than the entire South African minus David Millar and Quinton de cock out together. We are not sure whether most of players bound for IPL2022 starting today had some distraction of concentration. Bangladesh had Litton, Taskin, Afif, Shoriful Mehedi just blooming into prime form. The seniors had to perform to prolong their careers. Moreover, the presence of two former Protean Superstars, Alan Donald and Alvi Morkel alongside Domingo in the coaching staff also worked like a tonic. All these combined together and facilitated Bangladesh creating history in the land of rainbow. The series win consolidated Bangladesh position at the top of ICC ODI league and also almost booked a birth for Bangladesh playing directly in ICC World Cup 2022.
Circumstances alter cases. For various reasons, top Bangladesh players for different reasons were not available in some recent series in different formats. Shakib stayed out of the team off and on for personal reasons. Even he wanted to skip the tour of South Africa reporting mental and physical fatigue. Mahmudullah for reasons best known to him opted out from test cricket. Tamim voluntarily stayed out of T20 International. Mushfique lost a bit of his flair. Eventually, all were available and all contributed in some form or other. This mattered a lot.
Litton over the past few series is in prolific form His chemistry with Tamim (back again in brilliant best) sorted out the issues of opening partnership. The two featured in two excellent opening partnerships in the series. So called mentally fatigued Shakib produced a match winning partnership in the first ODI. The team chemistry changed. Bangladesh scoring 314 in the first ODI surprised the home team. Then Taskin, Shoriful, Miraj bowled brilliantly for the historic first win in South Africa.
In the second match relatively limited exposure to first , uneven bouncy wicket led to top order collapse . Still Bangladesh showed great character in recovering from 35/5 to 194 as Afif, Riad and Miraj appeared with Never Say Die attitude.
Back to Super Sports Park at Centurion strong wills to win of Tigers had South Africa blown away by Tiger surge. Taskin looked lethal wicket his second 5 wickets haul. South Africa was restricted to 154. Then Tamim and Litton again blasted South Africa attack roller coasting to 127 before getting separated. Two senior pros Tamim and Shakib capped off 9 wickets win. Bangladesh rewrote cricket history. I would give all credits to players . The BCB may be credited to the extent that outsiders perhaps did not interfere as usual in the past.
Bangladesh is always a formidable ODI unit since 2007 when Bangladesh knocked out strong India from ICC World Cup. They also beat South Africa in the same tournament. That team should have performed consistently if managed OK. After a slump in 2011, the team bounced back under the inspiring leadership of Mashrafee Mortaza in the 2015 world cup reaching the quarter final. In 2015 at hope Bangladesh whitewashed Pakistan , won against India and South Africa. There were no reasons why the team did not achieve consistency. The team chemistry had issues as head coach Chandrika Haturasinghe developed strained relations with senior players. BCB bosses also interfered too much. The performance of the team in the 2019 world cup could be better if someone could persuade match unfit Mashrafee staying out of the last three matches.
There were allegations of misunderstanding in the team. The performance of the started nose-diving as coaching staff changed. Mashrafee stayed out. Shakib got suspended by ICC. Players and management locked horns against each other. 2021 was a terrible year for Bangladesh losing in all formats of cricket. Things started moving towards better from January 2022 with Bangladesh recording test win in New Zealand, also the first ever win Kiwi Land. The team was without four seniors for the first time in many years.
The reason for success can also be attributed for emergence of new champions. There are few new match winners in the team apart from four seniors. Hope with the success come consistency. Bangladesh having quality pace attack now is also a factor in winning abroad. Hope couple of leg spinners would also emerge soon. Players would play, team management would set strategy and mentor players. BCB top management must not involve too much in the game. There is no cut short way to success.
BDST: 1231 HRS, MAR 26, 2022
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