It has been nearly 14 years since Bangladesh made their impressive Test debut against India. But, over the last decade and a half, while they have managed to compete against top one-day sides, especially at home, their performance in Tests overall has seen little improvement. With the ICC is pondering upon the two-tier system, Bangladesh’s hapless innings loss against Sri Lanka at Mirpur couldn’t have been more ill-timed. It was the kind of performance expected of a minnow and unfortunately, while their opponents Sri Lanka had won the World Cup just 14 years after making their Test debut, Bangladesh’s progress has been rather stagnant.
In spite of playing at home, Bangladesh were found out in both the batting and bowling department. After being inserted into bat, they needed to put at least 350 on board to compete in the Test. Instead, they managed only 232. The performance was highly disappointing in the sense that four of their batsmen registered decent scores, but not one of them carried on. The experienced Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim got fifties each. Considering that they are two of the senior-most members in the squad, they should have carried on but squandered the opportunity.
Shamsur Rahman and Sohaz Gazi were two other batsmen who got their eye in before getting out. If at least two of the four players had converted their knocks into bigger scores, Bangladesh could have posted a challenging total. By the time the hosts batted a second time round, the match was well and truly over. But, it was still disappointing that they did not show too much of a fight. Again, Mominul Haque got a half-century before giving it away. The fact that their number eleven was the second best top scorer says something about how poorly they batted.
Bangladesh’s bowling effort was equally depressing. Right from the start, they never looked to exercise any kind of control on the Sri Lankan batsmen. With no pressure being build, the visitors got away and constructed a mammoth total reminiscent of Colombo, Galle and Kandy. With his experience Shakib Al Hasan along with Sohag Gazi managed to make some inroads but it was a case of too little too late. The pace bowlers on the other hand were completely ineffective – Robiul Islam, Al-Amin Hossain and Rubel Hossain managing only one wicket among themselves.
Sri Lanka wouldn’t be going overboard with their celebrations, but they would be pleased nonetheless. Everybody was among the wickets - - Suranga Lakmal picked up three in each innings, Shaminda Eranga managed five in the game while Dilruwan Perera, who went wicket-less in the first innings, got five in the second. There were lots of positives in the batting as well. Mahela Jayawardene got a sublime double hundred he would remember; Kaushal Silva and Kithuruwan Vithanage got impressive tons even as three others including Sangakkara and skipper Mathews chipped in with half-centuries. Lanka couldn’t have done much better!
--By A Cricket Analyst
