Bangladesh-New Zealand match

The Tigers really went down fighting in the last match with New Zealand. Mahmudullah Riyad created history for Bangladesh by being only the eighth batsman to score two successive hundreds in World ODI history. To come to the other aspects of the match itself, television replays clearly showed that shortly after the fall of the second Kiwi wicket, Martin Guptill, who went on to score a hundred and became player of the match, covered his leg off a ball of Rubel. The Kiwis would have been three down had the stand-in captain Shakib sought a review against the umpire's decision of 'not out'. This was really tragic because if the third umpire reviewed positively, the game might have strongly swung in favour of the Tigers.

Shakib's decision to open the bowling with slow left armers displayed his maturity, though he conceded sixteen runs in his first over but got Brendon McCullum caught in his second over. On the contrary, Shakib's decision to take the cherry himself in the penultimate over instead of giving it to Rubel appeared to me to be selfish on his part. By such decision did Shakib expect to add another wicket to his already pocketed tally of four?

Though the Tigers' fielding in the match was average, Bangladesh is nevertheless in the quarterfinals for the first time ever in World ODI cricket. I wish Mashrafe regains his full fitness and leads his team to a spirited showing against India.

Quazi Ariffur Rahman
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