Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza struggles with injuries more times than he celebrates wickets; his lead quick Rubel Hossain is just out of jail after a breach of promise rape charge; the team has gone through a replacement after fast-medium pacer Al-Amin Hossain was packed off home for defying a team curfew; most players in the Bangla Tigers team are an average height of 5 feet something, diminutive by cricketing standards. The oldest player in the squad is Mortaza at 31, the rest in their mid-20s and one – Taskin Ahmed — just 19 years old!
And yet their achievements have been taller than their collective height and age, as also their individual limitations. Taskin became a YouTube sensation much before he was picked for the ODI team in 2014. In an under-19 match he took so many English wickets that the cyber world stood up in ovation.
Their in-and-out all-rounder Mahmudullah has scored two back-to-back centuries, one of them being against England (103 in 138 balls) and his very first ones in ODIs.
Their skipper is a known to be a larger than life personality in Bangladesh cementing and firing up the young team, in between taking time out to put up startling personal figures like 20/2 while bowling out an opposition alongside his fellow pacers.
In 2011, Mortaza was out of squad after the Bangladesh Cricket Board decided that he was injured. He cried foul and was often seen at the Mirpur Stadium practising by himself in lonely isolation. This time, his injuries have been taken in stride and he is leading the team to good effect. After 7 knee, ankle and carpel surgeries, it is a miracle that he is still walking into the middle, let alone bowling, often to maximum impact.
Watching Mashrafe at nets is interesting. He is obviously riddled with leg issues. He keeps fiddling with his knee braces, is fidgety and overtly cautious of not stretching his legs too much. He bowls short run-ups and does not really put in the power to practice. In between, he talks to his bowling coach Heath Streak, former Zimbabwe captain and pace bowlers, and also advises fellow bowlers like Rubel to bowl good length.
Amid all this, the team also has a no-nonsense coach in Chandika Hathurusinghe who says the boys have peaked at the right time, are clear-headed and know the way to go. Their bowling coach Streak has been working hard with the waywardness of seamers and tuned them up for occasions like now. On this path, the meeting with India whom they had so famously bundled out of the 2007 tournament but lost to in 2011 by 87 runs, looks to be a thrill watch.
Bangladesh cricket has grown much like the way its team has — in spurts and bounds. They perform well, slay a big team, and then return to virtual hibernation for long periods. Their Test record is nothing great despite the 15 years of Test status and their ODI exposure is pretty limited despite having played the first one in 1999.
But come World Cups and they start making news — like soaring over Afghanistan, chasing down 300-plus score by Scotland and then putting England to shame to enter, for the first time in their cricketing history, into the quarterfinals of a World Cup. Not to mention giving top form Kiwis some amount of heartburn in their last group stage match.
What has worked for this passionate and youthful side is the “dar ke aagey jeet hai” syndrome. They have, under sustained counselling, finally gotten over their paralysing fear of failure. The game plan is really too simple to be a plan at all. “The key is to play to our potential and get established sides off guard,” says Hathurusinghe, adding: “No secrBangla Tigers bite into passion fruitets here. Our preparation is thorough, we are peaking at the right time, we have less injuries and our key players are in good form, improving with every match,” he says.
This and the passion that carries them ahead of their limitations — like lack of big stage exposure and inexperience. When they beat England, the Bangla Tigers were ecstatic, their nation even more so. Back home, political strikes were suspended for a celebration, there were victory processions and the streets burst with happy fans chanting as if their team had already won the World Cup.
But it’s this passion which defines Bangladesh cricket and carries it forward to places like the MCG in a World Cup. Against defending champions India it’s this passion that will fuel their effort. Of course, Dhoni has seen them all — in 2007, then in 2011.