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Graceful in defeat

Bishwajit Roy
"People only remember the wins, not the close matches," Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful heaved a sigh in disappointment after their heartbreaking two-wicket defeat at the hands of Sri Lankan in the tri-
nation final at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
It was amazing the way the Tigers bounced back in the tournament with a five-wicket victory against Sri Lanka after a shock defeat to Zimbabwe and played the final match in a jam-packed stadium. There might be a reason to feel pain but no way they would hold their heads down after such a stupendous performance as it would be hard to find how many teams defended a small total like 152 runs in such a brave manner.
It's a match where many can debate with 'may' or 'may be not' issues but must accept that it was a good match to watch.
But in the end it seemed that many were hardly bothered to think about how good the match was rather tried to make the Bangladesh
captain a scapegoat for the defeat. It was not only that some frustrated fans chanted slogans against him outside the stadium rather Ashraful had to battle with the press afterwards: why he gave the ball to an inexperienced bowler like Rubel Hossain in a crucial stage of the match?
Ashraful, however, defended his decision and said that it was Muttiah Muralidaran's brilliant batting that took the match away although it was so close to make history by winning a tri-nation tournament for the first time.
"In the last match he (Rubel Hossain) bowled really well to wrap up the Sri Lankan tail and that's why I kept faith on him. He has a different kind of action and is capable of giving bouncers and yorkers but he failed to maintain his normal bowling in an crucial stage," Ashraful said.
"It's natural after the defeat many considers it a wrong decision but I think Murali played a brilliant knock. Luck also favoured him, otherwise one could have been top edged during the hasty innings. There is always chance for the pacers when tailenders bat," he added.
The question was raised why he did not try
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his another spin option in Mahmudullah Riyad but Ashraful found no reason to bring the off-spinner into the attack.
"All the bowlers bowled very well so there was no scope for me to try Riyad in any stage," he said.
Ashraful was understandably disappointed by the outcome as they lost another chance to rewrite the history. The Tigers hardly have the reputation that they can play good cricket against big opponents on the trot but they proved it wrong in the tournament after the way they fought back following a 38-run defeat in the first match against Zimbabwe.
"We are really frustrated. It's true that it could not be possible to win a match after making only 152 runs but we started to believe once Shakib (Al Hasan) brilliantly caused the damage in the very first ball with a run out. And then our bowlers did an excellent job and the fielding was also brilliant but in the end we could not make it," said a frustrated Ashraful.
He was not ready to accept that inexperience played any
part in their defeat but man-of-the series Shakib admitted that they had hardly any experience to go through in such situations.
"We don't face such a situation so often, so we might have been nervous. Actually Murali made the difference and I think people will remember Murali as a batsman in the series because he was not a threat too much as bowler," said Shakib, who was ranked the best spinner of the season by the ICC.
Like his captain, the allrounder also believed that people only remember victories.
"Nobody will remember how good my performance was as we lost the match," he said adding that they have learned a lot from this game.
Both Bangladesh captain and the best performer in the tournament may have uttered this out of frustration but without any doubt, it was a match for any cricket lover to remember for life.
SCOREBOARD
Scoreboard of the triangular one-day series final between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at the Sher-e-Bangla National
Stadium in Mirpur on Friday: BANGLADESH
Tamim c Sangakkara b Kulasekara 18
Zunaed c Sangakkara b Kulasekara 1
Mushfiqur b Kulasekara 4
Ashraful c Sangakkara bMaharoof 13
Shakib c Sangakkara bThushara 9
Rokibulnotout 43
Mahmudullahb
Muralidaran 26
Nayem c Mubarak b Mendis 21 Mashrafe c Kapugedera b Mendis 0
Nazmul lbw b Muralidaran 0 Rubel c Kapugedera b Mendis 0 Extras: (b-4,lb-2.nb-1.w-10) 17
Total: (All out in 49 overs) 152 Fall of wickets: 1-8,2-12,3-34, 4-42, 5-54, 6-98, 7-151, 8-151, 9-151,10-152.
Bowler O M R W
Kulasekara 8 1 19 3
Thushara 7 2 20 1
Maharoof 8 0 33 1
Mendis 9.4 0 24 3
Muralidaran 10 1 33 2
Jayasuriya 7 1 17 0
SRI LANKA
Tharanga c Mushfiqur b Nazmul 2
Jayasuriya run out 0
Sangakkarac&b Shakib 59 M Jayawardene c Mushfiqur b Nazmul 0
Kapugedera c Zunaed b Mashrafe 1
Thushara b Nazmul 1
Mubarak run out 16
Maharoof not out 38
Kulasekara b Shakib 0
Muralidaran not out 33
Extras: (lb-2,w-l) 3
Total: (For eight wkts in 48.1 overs) 153
Did not bat: Mendis
Fall of wickets: 1-0,2-4, 3-4,4-5,5-6,6-51,7-114,8-114.
Bowler O M R W
Mashrafe 10 1 18 1
Nazmul 10 3 30 3
Shakib 10 2 22 2
Rubel 9 2 52 0
Nayem 9.1 2 29 0
Result: Sri Lanka won by 2 wickets.
Man-of-the-match: Kumar Sangakkara.
Man-of-the-series: Shakib Al Hasan.
Toss: Sri Lanka
Umpires: Billy Doctrove (WIS) and Enamul Haque (BAN)
TV umpire: Sharafudoulla Shahid (BAN)
Match referee: Alan Hurst (AUS)