INDIA overpowered Bangladesh in their first appearance in the Quarter finals of any World Cups; beating the Tigers by 109 runs. A spirited Bangladesh side was hoping of a repeat performance of the 2007 World Cup where the underdogs beat India by 5 wickets; but they found outmaneuvered by a much powerful and mature Indian side this time.
India won the toss and as per conventional wisdom decided to bat first. Our Captain Mashrafee Bin Mortaza opened the bowling with Taskin Ahmed. Mashrafee appeared not fully fit, and was bowling with less malice than we had seen in the previous games. Scoring seemed difficult. Bangladesh needed to strike at regular intervals to keep their control. Mature India did not allow us that luxury. There we saw a couple of dubious umpiring decisions that marred that innings; the most unfortunate one being the call of No-ball off Rubel to Rohit Sharma when he was on 90. Replays showed that the ball was not above waist as the umpire had called it to be. But since this did not involve the third umpire, Rohit was reprieved and went on to score 47 runs more, helping India to a total of 302.
No team had chased more than 300 runs at the MCG, Australia. Bangladesh had started well, with Tamim on the charge. We raced to 33 before Tamim was caught behind off an impressive Umesh Yadav. The very next ball saw a bizarre run-out of the other opener. Standing at 33-2, we had a mountain to climb. Perhaps the best chance we had lied with the back-to-back centurian Md Mahmudullah Riyad. He and Soumya set about resurrecting the innings. But on 73, a shot played in the air appeared to have been caught on the boundary by Dhawan. TV footages suggest there was doubt about whether his feet touched the ‘rope’/boundary but the third umpire had given it out.
In the end, our batsmen came and went, and India managed the impressive feat of bowling all the sides they played against in this World Cup out. No less than 7 batsmen reached double figures for us, with the highest innings being 35 from Nasir Hossain who came at #8. In cricket it is considered a cardinal sin for batsmen not to go on once you have had a chance to settle in. But to be fair, this was our first time at such platform and perhaps the occasion overwhelmed us. A fully fit Mashrafee might have made a difference. In any case, we can take solace from the fact that this was without doubt our best showing at the World Cups so far. Our side has shown significant progress in recent times and have won our hearts and minds. They have shown their promise and determination for a better cricket in future. It was a graceful defeat to a mighty and much mature Indian cricket team and we must show magnanimity.
