Bangladesh WC 2015 Watch

[foreignfield]

A good start for BD, bowling was competent, Mushfiq and Shakib did their usual thang, only the top order would worry me slightly if I was a BD fan.

I think you have a more than decent chance of downing either SL (a tournament too far for the elder statesmen?) or England (just as bad against lef-arm spin as Zim -- but their seamers could equally wreak havoc amongst your top order). Both matches could go either way.

Let's hope they stay focussed throughout the group stages and not underestimate Scotland.

[Kriterion_BD]

This was a big game for us. One of the differences between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe is that Zimbabwe have fans, whereas we have only haters. Part of that is because BD fans are more or less as obnoxious as Indo-Pak fans. But most of that is an inherent superiority complex that many Pak and Ind fans harbor towards us. It makes their skin burn that Bangladesh dares to exist. Probably some geo-political issues mixed in there as well. But we get constant shit. In a way thats good, when we win we really piss those brown motherfuckers off.

But since we lost of Afghanistan with essentially our A team (no Shakib, Tamim, Mashrafe, or Taskin) we didn't hear the end of it. We heard all sorts of lies like:

- AFG killed you on your own turf, imagine what they will do to you in bouncy OZ pitches
- AFG pacers are tall, strong, quick and will BD batters will shit their pants facing them
- AFG deserves test status more than BD

So this was a big win for us from the standpoint that AFG got all up in our grills AFTER we bundled their asses for 72 in the world T20. I mean who gets all uppity after you've just been thrashed? Then we had this trouncing which makes it 2/2 to prove that the Asia Cup was a fluke against a veritable A team.

But as Taylor Swift says, the haters gonna hate, so we just need to shake that shit off.

I support AFG like I support all Associates (just not against BD) and I think their cockiness brings some excitement to the game. I wish them the best as a team and country. Many Bangladeshis, including myself, have Afghan ancestry (I'm an 8th generation Afghan from my mother's side, the descendent of a Pashtun trader named Chand Khan, after whom the Bangladeshi town of Chandpur is named)...so there is a centuries old historical and geneological linkage between our two brother nations. That being said, AFG still have a ways to go to catch up to the bottom ranked Test sides, or even Ireland for that matter. They are the second best Associate side, but their batting is probably at the level of a UAE or PNG. Inshallah they will get better and improve and be a force to reckon with in the near future.

[jaybro]

BD get lucky with the weather with the game v Aus to be a NRR which gives them points there were never going to get and spares them of a thumping Net Run Rate as well. Call me presumptuous but with that attack on a Gabba pitch with plenty of juice it would have been very hard for any top order let alone A Bangladeshi one to handle the likes of Johnson, Starc, Cummins and Hazelwood. With England getting pumped twice BD are one upset away from progressing, or even a few more wet weather matches ......

With the weather in Brissy our Pakistan match could also be washed out .....

[Kriterion_BD]

I had said on the BC forum that our game vs SL at the MCG was a virtual knock-out. Now it appears if that isn't, the one vs England at Adelaide will be. Either or.

We'll take the point. But I'm hoping for some play today even though we'll get whooped.

[jaybro]

I had said on the BC forum that our game vs SL at the MCG was a virtual knock-out. Now it appears if that isn't, the one vs England at Adelaide will be. Either or.

We'll take the point. But I'm hoping for some play today even though we'll get whooped.

They should have just made an executive decision and moved the game 3 days ago, there's a cyclone hitting South East QLD I'll be surprised if they even get out there .....

[Kriterion_BD]

That's what I said but its really not possible. Way too much behind the scenes stuff in preparing a venue.

[jaybro]

Why did Mominul bat @9 in the last match ??

[Kriterion_BD]

Why did Mominul bat @9 in the last match ??

No clue. But the management said they initially had him in at 7, but when the tail collapsed they sent him to stabilize. Or something along those lines. He hasn't really solidified his position in the team, and there is a feeling he's not cut out for limited overs batting. I'm not sure I would rule him out, but at the moment he's not real got a well defined role.

Our lineup has quite a few question marks. There was a widget on cricinfo that showed the lowest strike rates for openers since 2013 and both Tamim and Anamul were on the list. Tamim, the same guy who flayed attacks before has been trying to rebrand himself as a solid batsmen. Yet he averages less than when he was hung ho. If there is one guy in our lineup who needs to forget temperament and play reckless, its him.

[jaybro]

There's no point playing Mominul @9 or even 7 IMO ......

Nassir Hossain would be better lower down the order plus he bowls abit, you guys looked short of bowlers in the Afghan game ?

[Kriterion_BD]

There's no point playing Mominul @9 or even 7 IMO ......

Nassir Hossain would be better lower down the order plus he bowls abit, you guys looked short of bowlers in the Afghan game ?

Yeah no point with Mominul at 9, maybe in at 7. He does bowl a bit of left arm spin, but I doubt it would be of use in the WC. Our batting order is a bit odd, but against AFG it almost paid off. I'm willing to extend the benefit of doubt to Hathruasingha as he was known to be an excellent tactician.

The lineup I would have gone with vs AFG was:

Tamim
Soumya
Mahmudullah
Mushfiq
Shakib
Anamul
Nasir
Sabbir
Mashrafee
Al Amin
Taskin

However, the Rubel pick paid off, so he's in my starting lineup now in place of Al Amin. That would be my lineup for the clutch game vs SL at the MCG next week. But think tank seems to put Shakib and Mushfiq - our best bats - down a slot each. That might not be a bad idea because our tail is longer than Chaminda Vaas' name and having Mushy and Shakib down the order allows us to maximize the slog overs. The guys at the top need to take us to at least 180 from the first 40 overs though, and they don't look like being able to get much more than 150.