BOMBAY, 31 December 2004 — What can one make of the performances of both India and Bangladesh in the recently-concluded series of Test and one-day matches?
To the non-partisan, it surely must have been a poor series, despite the fact that some leading Indian players helped themselves to important personal landmarks. To those who attach so much patriotism to cricket, there were moments that raised the sagging spirits of minnows Bangladesh to new heights.
The fact that Bangladesh won their first ever ODI at home and also, for the first time defeated India in this version of the game, made the players and their millions of supporters forget that they are still so far away from justifying their Test status which they earned ahead of Kenya, a side that certainly had better credentials.
For the record, Bangla did well in the one-dayers, in fact remarkably well in that apart from pulling off a surprise win over a strong Indian batting side, in the second one-dayer, they had run the visitors very close in the opening ODI, to eventually go down by just eleven runs.
Their effort at swinging at every ball in the closing stages had indeed come too late. They regretted the fact that their buckling down to scoring just 29 runs in the middle 15 overs had proved their undoing.
However, there was never any doubt as to which was the vastly superior side in the deciding third one-dayer, with India winning by 91 runs. The home team’s euphoria of the previous day’s historic win had faded quicker than expected and that victory over India now remains only a memory to cherish.
Bangladesh will always be judged by their performances in Test matches which continue to be appalling. In 20 Tests played by them so far, they have not been able to win a single one. As if to drive home this point, India beat them in both the Tests by an innings and many runs in just three days.
This dismal record has invited a severe criticism over their being granted Test status so soon. Bangla will try and justify this anomaly by saying that they have been in business of Test cricket for only four years and that India took 22 years to record their first Test victory. But this argument simply doesn’t wash these days when the conditions under which Test cricket is played are more or less uniform, so are the opportunities to play at home and abroad.
Whatever might have been the ultimate outcome, Bangladesh can take heart from that historic first win at home as they can from the sprinkling of good, young talent that they have like Mohammad Ashraful, the youngest centurion in Test cricket.
His unbeaten knocks of 6O and 158 in the first innings of the two Tests gave enough indication of the fact that he belongs to higher company. In Mashrafe Mortaza, one can see the makings of an outstanding all-rounder. The medium-pacer has the right attitude and deserves to bat higher up than at No. 9. What is also heartening is the fact that the team is made up of several players who are just around twenty and have a whole bright future in front of them.
Can we say, then, that the tides are indeed turning for Bangladesh’s fortunes in international cricket. The forthcoming series against Zimbabwe will confirm that fact.
As for India’s performance, it bordered on the mediocre. All those records are only on paper.
They do not indicate the quality of the opposition. The biggest disappointment was Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy. He may fancy himself as a bowler, but the figures do not make him one with any hostility. His bowling a few overs needlessly allowed Bangladesh to make a remarkable comeback in a match that was as good as lost. That was in the first one-dayer. His experiment with rotation system, whereby leading players took a drop misfired, as India lost that match where Tendulkar, Dravid, Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan were kept out.
For any team to be consistent, it must play to its full potential and there must be that ruthless streak which the Australians invariably display whatever the quality of the opposition.
