by
Anonymous
I was on a road trip when the match happened and nearly crashed into another car when I heard the result. We had finally beaten the Poms. Nothing gives me more joy than to see the English be beaten at their own game.
But more than that, this win meant the three match ODI had been tied 1-1 and for the second time, Bangladesh had a chance to win a ODI series (if we exclude West Indies and Zimbabwe).
Huge stuff.
We didn't win of course, and although I secretly wished that we would I knew that it was not happening. Not because the second ODI win was a fluke, but because we lack the temperament to play big matches. Also, those Poms, they are slightly okay at this ODI thingy these days.
But now that we are done with our one night stands with the top level teams, we can think of roping them into relationships. Serious ones, where we dominate. I believe we are steadily making our way there...Mortaza is the new captain (I support it, Shakib was terrible and it was affecting his performance), Junaid Siddique is becoming a serious contender for the number three spot, we just won a match where Tamim was out early and even Crashrafool is being dropped occasionally. Not to mention Jamie Siddons has nearly perfected his suppressed angry face and these days you can only see the veins throbbing furiously. They are also picking up war injuries...well so far only my adopted son Mushfiq is. How can you not be rewarded after that?
Yes, we are done with one night stands. We are far too old for them.
Well...maybe one more with Ireland.
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by
Anonymous
Scrap Shakib's chicken pox and dip them in silver to make them look like diamonds. Then offer it to Alastair Cook as a bribe, he is from Essex after all.
Let Andrew Strauss know that his captaincy is in question. It's not, but they are English. They tend to believe in the worst.
Go the ICC way and pretend that Eoin Morgan is still too Irish for you to notice him.
Fix Tamim Iqbal quickly, that always helps. Remind him that Cook is playing and is therefore available to drop him at some point.
Frustrate them till they step on balls or clean them with nails. If we are lucky, they may take a bite as well.
Don't depend on Crashrafool. Or better yet, switch him with Mahmudullah.
Keep Mushfiq happy. He is my son you see. If you keep him happy, I am happy. If I am happy, I am not making the short five hour flight to England to unleash hell on you. If I am not making the short five hour flight to England to unleash hell on you, you are left with a team to at least compete. It all works out splendidly.
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by
Gaurav Sethi
Oh no, you really don’t have to – unless of course, Tamim Iqbal is your son, sibling, neighbour, teammate. Earlier Ashraful’s clansmen watched him play, and by default ended up watching the whole darn team make a mess out of it. Then Ashraful, poor Ash, how he made a mess of his cricket, he wasn’t even playing today. Ash boy has been dropped before, for all you know, he must have been on sick leave today – sick of doing nothing about something.
I’m sure Tamim’s people had a good time today. I only put the TV on when he was walking back. 9th wicket he was, of course, I’m not one of Tamim’s people. But if you’re Indian, you know what this kid can do – Tamim has no tameez when it comes to India, and seeing how many Injuns have settled in England, he must’ve mistaken the Poms for us.
But Bangladesh lost again. And I’m so glad, I didn’t watch a ball. Didn’t even refresh the scoreboard, not a tweet, but now this post. Which begs the question, why write Bangladesh play? Oh right, there is Shakib – and this is only England.
Almost as beatable as Bangladesh. If only some of the Balti restauranters got into cricket.
Then it’ll be two Bangla teams playing each other. Both eminently beatable. And the Poms, they can land up for lunch. And good ol' Bumble will tweet as they eat.
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Gaurav Sethi
If you watch Bangladesh bat you will often hear – “this is the last of the recognised batsmen” - I just did again. Earlier when they were 5 down I heard, “this is the last of the recognised pairs”. How are these recognised pairs calculated, who are these recognised batsmen, more importantly, does Bangladesh have any recognised batsmen?
I’ve been thinking about this for a few days – how many Bangladeshi batsmen do we recognise, by name, by face? There’s Shakib, and we’ve followed his batting like the Hutch dog here. There’s Ashraful, whose batting went astray; and Mortaza’s IPL non-exploits – he’s not even playing now. And of course, Tamim, who’s quite an Indophile.
But apart from these recognisable batsmen, who are the others – hold your horses, there’s Mahmudullah, who walks in at the fall of the 7th wicket – and as Bangladesh is invariably 7 down, Mahmudullah is usually the last of the recognised batsmen. Funny how I still can’t recognise him. But then neither can the Indian bowlers.
It’s like this, they have grand plans for Mahmudullah – but then they ask themselves, who's this guy? You gotta recognise a batsman then plan his dismissal. Mahmudullah is the Andy Flower of Bangladesh. He is an even bigger Indophile than Tamim. And doesn’t he keep wickets well, at least his!
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by
Gaurav Sethi
Remember Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan - over two years back they helped knock India out of the Carib World Cup, both scored 50s.While Tamim knocked Zaks around like some schoolboy, Shakib helped see Bangla through.
Today, Tamim was Man of the Match, where as Shakib scored runs, five wickets, and sealed the deal with the final wicket. In many ways it was the Best wicket.
They might only have beaten a half assed Windies team, but face it, they could have done the done thing and lost. And yeah, it was Tamim, Shakib and Mahmudullah who won it for them. Not Ashraful, not Mortaza.
While Ashraful scored 9 runs (6+3), Mortaza bowled 6.3 overs.
It's tough to say how good Bangla was, because who saw that match? OK, Tony Cozier was forced too. As were the umpires.
But this does open a new debate, should weaker teams play second string sides from stronger cricketing nations?
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