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Small issues lead to big loss

Mohammad Isam
Apart from a few 1 thorns on their side, some of the cricket played in the Asia Cup final has been nothing short of exhilarating. The Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium witnessed its greatest game of cricket and the packed house was thrilled at every turn and chicane.
The Tigers have made the country proud by finally playing the brand of cricket the nation has wanted for a very long time. They fight, these Tigers. They didn't give up against India, they held themselves together against Sri Lanka and though they failed to touch the tape despite crossing the final hurdle against Pakistan, they can stand up tall and play like this for the foreseeable future.
Now back to those thorns.
The first bone of contention was the manner in which Shahadat Hossain let himself be manhandled in the final over. After two decent deliveries, the man who hails from Signboard, Narayanganj fell apart as a cricketer. He bowled a throat-high full-toss to Sarfraz Ahmed and got hit past point for four; it was followed by a needless extra effort delivery which resulted in a foot-fault no-ball. The freehit next ball was still tolerable but off the fifth ball he got smacked for another boundary. In total, it was 19 runs the Tigers couldn't afford to concede in a big game where they are playing for the very first time. More than blaming Mushfiqur Rahim for giving the ball to Shahadat, it would be the bowler who should bear the brunt for bowling so poorly. The other options were Mahmudullah Riyad or Nasir Hossain, but less talented spinners in the final over seemed riskier at the time.
Another was the innings played by Nazimuddin, and to some extent Nasir. The right-handed opener poked around for an hour and two minutes to score 16 off 52 balls. He tried too hard to hit boundaries but never found a single one. Instead, he batted as if he was on playing a green seamer or a rank turner. Shahadat and Nazimuddin were given the nod for this game for only one reason and that doesn't have anything to do with their contribution. The think-tank didn't want to
break the winning combination.
If Nazimuddin made batting look extremely hard, the man at the other end, Tamim Iqbal, played as if he was having nets. The left-handed opener is back in form and with his fourth consecutive fifty (a Bangladesh record), proved to his detractors that what happens off the field has stopped affecting him on it.
“You can't underestimate those two guys [Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal]. Without those two the job is a little tougher. They set the tone. You do rate them very highly,” said coach Stuart Law after the emotionally draining game. “Tamim did everything in this Asia Cup except get a hundred. His preparation was fantastic. He put aside the cloud above him and got on with his cricket and reaped the benefits.”
The other guy that Law has spoken of is now the best player of the tournament, and the biggest contributor for Bangladesh. Shakib was tremendous once again, picking up two wickets in an economical spell of bowling followed by yet another innings of substance and pluck. Shakib took a slow game by the scruff of the neck every time Nasir managed to give him the strike. His fall playing the much-maligned scoop shot, was critical to theTigers' cause but another brave soul kept the fire burning.
Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's return has not only fascinating for the cricket lovers but the manner in which he has performed has once again showed what he's really made of.
“Having a strike bowler like Mashrafe back to cricket is something, especially how he has recovered.
“He contributes big time, he is clever with pace, he is a positive influence and gives other senior players a break, everyone has chipped in, a complete team performance, we have achieved what we wanted to achieve. He lights the fire so that the other seniors can take a break,” said Law.
“Apart from a boundary off the last ball, we didn't lack anything, we had penetration with ball, batters also did well. We could have rotated the strike a bit better during the middle part. To chase a total of 240 was a manageable task. We could find a million different areas where we could improve. We played the best game of cricket we possibly could this evening,” he added.