Shakib AL Hasan of Bangladesh bowls during the T20I match. FIle Photo: STAR
Bangladesh paid the ultimate price for sloppy fielding and made it quite easy for India to overwhelm them by
45 runs in the opening match of Asia Cup 2016 at Mirpur stadium yesterday.
Shakib Al Hasan’s epic drop when Rohit Sharma was on 21 in the 11th
over was the turning point of the match in hindsight. Rohit went on to
blast 62 more runs, ending at 83 from 55 balls. The ground fielding of
Tigers was disappointing to say the least, and the trailer of a horror
show came early, third over to be precise.
An unnecessary fling from the covers conceded two overthrows in the
last ball of the third over bowled by Taskin Ahmed. Rohit top-edged a
pull off Mashrafe in the fifth over, but the fielder at deep midwicket
couldn't get under it in time. A dive at the last moment was needed but
the fielder faltered.
When Mustafizur was bowling at Yuvraj Singh in the 14th over, a bad
miss by the fielder at mid-off allowed the batsman to pick up a
boundary. When Rohit and Pandya were throwing the kitchen sink late in
the innings, pressure got to the Bangladeshi fielders and they
cracked…the bowlers also lost their plot and gave away 79 runs in the
last five overs!
In the 16th over, Rohit Sharma came down the track to Mashrafe
Mortaza and lofted the ball straight down the ground. Shakib’s jump
wasn’t good enough to prevent the six. The ball kept following Shakib
wherever he went, and exposed the allrounder’s lact of athleticism time
and time again.
17th over, the one that ruined Mustafizur Rahman’s bowling figures
with 21 runs also featured Shakib in another bloopers’ highlight reel.
Rohit opened up and flick-pulled a short ball from Mustafizur. Shakib
fancied his chances again, got his hands but clumsily pushed the ball
over the boundary. He could neither take the catch or prevent the six.
Considering some spectacular catches at the boundary taken in T20 in
recent times, Shakib’s effort left a lot to be desired. He lost his
edge…
The fielding-horror show continued in the next over when a
half-hearted attempt at a catch by Taskin Ahmed produced two runs.
Taskin misjudged the catch, overran the ball and was made to look silly
doing the clean-up job. Throwing from the deep was mostly wayward and
lacked the intensity of the occasion. Slow and sloppy fielders allowed
Pandy and Rohit to convert ones into two, and take them on.
The miserable day on the field was probably summed up by the last
ball of India’s innings, when their captain smashed the short-pitch
rubbish from Al-Amin into the stands, and end on a high. Bangladesh’s
death over bowling, that too in a 20-over game was shocking as bowlers
dished up length balls for Indian batters to go for the swing! As it
turned out, they connected more often than not.
Mashrafe didn't blame Shakib for dropping Rohit Sharma's chance at point in the 11th over during the post-match press brief.
"[Dropped catch] is part of the game," Mashrafe said. "We can't
really do much about it. A catch can be missed. He is one of our best
fielders and I wanted him at point in that over because from the 12th or
13th over in T20s, we usually have most of our better fielders in
crucial positions in the deep," reports
ESPNcricinfo
Instead of pointing fingers at a single offender, the overall
standard of fielding must be on captain Mashrafe’s mind. He knows if the
boys don’t pull up their socks, another humbling may be on the cards
later in this Asia Cup. With the ICC T20 World Cup in March, Bangladesh
need to lift themselves up as a fielding unit. If not, their opponents
will make them pay through their nose, just like Rohit Sharma did on
February 24, 2016.
