Shakib Al http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 cricket (Part 1)
The recent form of Bangladeshi cricketer, Shakib Al Hasan, has saved the dying image of Bengali cricket in the international arena. The youngster, who is captaining the national side, has played some exceptional cricket in the home series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754.
Previously, the national Test, ODI, and T20 team was struggling in the World of cricket, as it lacked the required talent and World class cricketers to become a competitive opposition. Before the recent ODI series against the Kiwis, the Bengalis had only
a handful of cricketing moments.
Before a couple of years, the national Bangladeshi side was under immense pressure as the International Cricket Council (ICC) was extremely concerned regarding the ongoing performances of the national side in Test cricket.
Bangladeshi’s have played some of the worst cricket in the longer version of the game, which was never witnessed before by the ICC. Their cricket had dropped to the extent that the ICC was planning on taking away their Test status, and include them in the
Associate teams category, which allows new and weaker teams to develop their game. Among the several matches organised by the ICC to support them is the four-day game, and it’s sole purpose is to give these teams a feel of the highest format of the game.
However, the advent of players such as skipper, Shakib Al Hasan, and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tamim-Iqbal-c2640 has raised the stakes of their international cricket game plan. And the national side has been able to perform against various international teams. Tamim Iqbal is the second
successive Bengali cricketer to win the Wisden Cricketer’s award after current skipper Shakib Al Hasan. The two were given the maximum number of points among the other international cricketers in the longer version of the game.
Nevertheless, Tamim Iqbal wasn’t able to appear in the Black Caps series because of his wrist surgery, which he still hasn’t completely recovered from.
On the contrary, the ODI skipper Hasan has dominated the visiting Kiwis in all 4 matches played from the 5 ODI series. The second ODI’s play never commenced due to the intense rainfall the Dhaka cricket ground received. But the other 4 ODIs were dominated
by the hosts.
The first ODI was also interrupted during the course of the match on and off because of bad weather conditions, leading to the Duckworth-Lewis method (D/L) to come into play as the hosts won by 9 runs.
The second game was abandoned without a single delivery being bowled. The third match was an easy win for the hosts as they chased the 173 total with 7 wickets in hand and another ten overs to spare.
The fourth ODI was another close encounter as the Kiwis fell 9 runs short of the target. The fifth match was more about New Zealand restoring some glory in the limited over format, as they gave in all the fight in them, and still lost by 3 runs.
The entire series commenced in the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur, Dhaka. The hosts secured the ODI series with a massive 4-0 victory.
Several cricketing experts agree with the point of view that new and weak teams should play home series, as it increases the level of confidence and gives the cricketers a chance to play in friendly and familiar cricketing conditions.
Arguably, the recent 5 match ODI series against the Black Caps is among the few considerably good performances the Bengali cricketers have shown in the recent past. Not to forget that this is their first series win against a World class national cricket
team.
(To be continued...Part 2)
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