Bangladesh Snatched Defeat From Jaws Of Victory

When this night will end, Bangladeshi players will realize that they have snatched defeat from jaws of victory. Bangladesh was one stroke away from the historical victory in Asia Cup final against mighty Pakistan. Whereas, Pakistani players will realize that it was a testing situation for them and they had a narrow escape from a disappointing defeat.


 

Bangladeshi players and fans are very disappointed. This was their 2^nd final appearance, the first one was in 2009, in which they lost by two wickets against Sri Lanka, and today it was two runs. Surely, two is not the lucky number for Bangladesh cricket.


 

If we try to find out the culprits of this match then there are few from the Bangladesh side responsible for the damage done. We can’t forget the 50^th over of Pakistani inning, in which Shahadat Hossain of Bangladesh gave away 19 runs which in the end proved to be turning point of the Asia Cup Final match. Nazimuddin’s 16 off 52 balls and Nasir Hossain’s 28 off 63 balls inning was icing on the cake and didn’t help Bangladesh to become new King of Asian Cricket.


 

For the Pakistani side Sarfraz Ahmed came as the light of hope and took his team from a drowning position of 199 for 8 to 236 for 9. Afridi’s all-round performance kept Pakistan into the hunt.


 

Bangladesh turned a gettable target into a daunting due to several players. Initially, they scored runs at the slower rate and when the time was there, they didn’t try to increase the pace. Only Tamim Iqbal played a brilliant knock and scored his fourth consecutive fifty in the tournament. His departure was a blow to Bangladesh as the required run rate was consistently increasing making the chase much more difficult. In the whole chase, Bangladesh never gained dominating position and pressure and lack of confidence was visible in the body language of the players. But they hold their nerves till the last over of the game.

Bangladesh bowling was very discipline till the 49^th over and didn’t allow Pakistanis to score at brisk rate. Bangladeshis also kept picking wicket at equal intervals building pressure on their counterpart. Lower order batsman of Pakistani team took the match away from Bangladesh in the last few overs and especially in the final over of their innings.


 

This was only the 2^nd final which Bangladesh has ever played and for the first time they were chasing target in the finals of such a big tournament. Certainly the pressure was huge on the Bangladeshi players mainly because they didn’t wish to disappoint their home crowd. In the end it was a fantastic day for cricket when a minnows performed and fought till the end. This tournament will be a stepping stone in Bangladeshi cricket.