Beside showing lapses in batting temperament, Bangladesh batters in both matches gave Afghanistan repeated openings by burning reviews unnecessarily, exposing the side to avoidable risks.

Bangladesh cricket, in particular, must take note.

When politics overshadows the game, cricket itself is the ultimate loser.

No politics, no boycotts, just pure cricket: the kind that creates drama, stirs emotions, and keeps fans -- old and new -- coming back for more.

A simple gesture of formality withheld can snowball into a storm, and India captain Suryakumar Yadav is learning that lesson the hard way in the ongoing Asia Cup..As eternal rivals India and Pakistan are set for a rematch after a week in their first Super Four fixture, what should have bee

In the Asia Cup so far, the headlines have been written off the field.

After all, what's a straight drive six compared to the impact of a withheld palm?

That's what makes the Abu Dhabi fixture one of those rare moments multi-nation tournaments produce. Two sides fighting for survival, while a third watches nervously from afar.

There are probably very few in the cricketing world who have demonstrated adaptability like Sri Lanka legend Sanath Jayasuriya.

The two teams may meet up to two more times in this edition, but if the performance gap continues, even political colouring may not sustain the all-too-familiar pre-match buzz in future tournaments.

The India-Pakistan cricketing rivalry has always been a proxy war of sorts, a battle between bat and ball, which, in the hearts of fans, was a matter of national pride, where victory was an obligation and defeat unacceptable.

Yet the expectations behind including Oman, Hong Kong, and hosts UAE in the tournament have largely gone unmet.

For years, the Tigers' T20 story has been one of cautious cricket and squandered chances.

Cricket in the UAE remains largely confined to the South Asian expatriate community, and expecting a carnival-like setting may be asking too much.

If the 2-0 margin of victory doesn't make it obvious, the fact that only eight Bangladeshi batters got a chance to bat in the three-match series against the Netherlands is a solid indicator of just how one-sided the series in Sylhet was.

Few would have blamed her for burying that memory, shelving the replay, and moving on. That is, after all, the common prescription of our age: "forget, distract, move past."

For the record book, Bangladesh captain Litton Das' fiifty against the Netherlands in the dead-rubber third T20I in Sylhet yesterday holds some significance. With it, the wicketkeeper-batter overtook Shakib Al Hasan for the most fifties, 14, in the format for the Tigers.

Outside the Mirpur Shaheed Suhrawardi Indoor Stadium, an unusual sight unfolded. Wrestlers were training under the open sky -- sometimes on bare soil, sometimes on paved concrete -- sweating it out while puzzled passersby watched as if the arena itself had spilled onto the streets.

Netherlands batting coach Heino Kuhn recently talked to The Daily Star’s Samsul Arefin Khan in Sylhet and spoke candidly about his international career and a very brief stint at the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) as well. The excerpts are as follows:

From claiming he was here to play a “T20 innings” as Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president to announcing his intent to contest in the upcoming board elections yesterday, Aminul Islam Bulbul has remained consistent in one regard -- the ambiguity that often characterises the leadership positions in any line of work in the country.