Cricket World Cup : Bangladesh vs Ireland wasn't irrelevant

Wish it were. I am writing this article as I found the article by Siddarth Monga on cricinfo total rubbish.

“After they finally won one game, however, Shakib, and his two team-mates, Tamim Iqbal and Shafiul Islam, lifted that veil. Minutes after they had gone on a victory lap – yes, after having beaten Ireland – the three came to address the media.”

This is typically how BBC handles India news. The ‘third world country’ is their favorite address. BBC tries its best to be objective. Never the less, I do find it high handed at times.

So, aren’t people ignoring Bangladesh story? They ran England close throughout last year and if not for Morgan, the results could have been different.

There are traces of Sri Lanka of early nineties. They used to lose; they used to run close to all good sides. Suddenly, they turned around and won 1996 WC. Rest is history.

Bangladesh are running everyone close these days. They scare everyone, but they lose.

What I saw yesterday was actually no different from what happened against New Zealand. Bangladesh back themselves and they fight.

Bangladesh are a child learning the ropes. They make mistakes but now, they back themselves to fight. When Mr. Monga says that their batting is -

“one-fifths individual brilliance, four-fifths collective implosion.”

It has changed Mr. Monga. The mistakes are same but they are actually not the same mistakes.

I am not a fan of sequential, linear progression models. We learn non-linearly.

A child does not speak for initial 1-2 years. He tries but he cannot. Then within 2-3 months, he suddenly starts speaking a lot. Bangladesh seems like that child to me.

This is how I sum up what happened yesterday.

“Bangladesh were flying high, made mistakes, fell down, fumbled, but still made sure that there was no goof up.”

This does not make Bangladesh any more ‘crazy’ as Mr. Monga put it. This makes Bangladesh ‘stronger’.

They are learning to swim. They did not sink yesterday, and the thing that is more likely is that, that they may swim better in future.

The most disbelieving thing Mr. Monga has said is-

“The kids had looked old and rugged against India.”

They were brave against India. Just not matched in resources. They were a kid who was not scared to meet eyes with a strong man.