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Great hosting of World T20

Fakhruddin Ahmed
FOR three weeks, Bangladesh was the epicenter of the cricket world as it hosted the men's and women’s IGC World T20 cricket Championships. Twenty six teams descended on Bangladesh to contend for the championship of the abbreviated variant of cricket.
Men's and women's teams from eight test cricket playing nations - England, Australia, West Indies, South Africa, New Zealand, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka - came. The men's team from test playing Zimbabwe also competed but was eliminated in the preliminary rounds by the Netherlands. Other ICC Associates from Ireland, United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Nepal and Hong Kong participated in the men's competition but were eliminated in the preliminary rounds. Associate Ireland's women team qualified for the women's Championship.
It must have been a logistical nightmare to shuttle so many foreign men's and women's teams between Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet. By all accounts Bangladesh acquitted itself admirably. Bangladesh cricket organisers and the fans deserve kudos for showing the world that they can host major international sporting events.
Predictably, there were power outages - thrice in Chittagong, and once in Sylhet. The wonder is that there were so few. Load-shedding power outages are facts of life in Bangladesh. They are as common as rosgollas for dessert. But on this occasion, when Bangladesh commanded the global stage, such glitches were mercifully minimal.
Infrastructure-wise, the real revelation was the new stadium in Sylhet, Bangladesh's 8,h international cricket venue. The stadium itself and the surroundings are pretty. It is just as well that Sylhet hosted 24 out of the 27 women's matches. Over-all, Sylhet hosted 30 men's and women's matches, Mirpur 17, and Chittagong 15. Sylhet fans came out in droves to support women's cricket, whereas Dhaka fans saved their enthusiasm for the men's matches.
Chittagong has become synonymous with the "dew problem" for night matches. As a student of Faujderhat Cadet College the writer remembers that after a clear and hot day around Chittagong, as the earth surface cools at night moisture condenses and forms dew on the grass. The South Africans played all four first round matches in Chittagong, and Dale Steyn had no problem defending 7 runs in the last over against New Zealand on a dew-laden ground.
England, too, played all four first round matches in Chittagong, losing three, including one against an Associate, the Netherlands. They complained about the dew, Stuart Broad likening it to bowling with a "bar of soap." When England lost to Bangladesh in their 2011 World Cup match in Chittagong, they also complained about the dew. I thought England would be the most adept in playing in dew. From my graduate student days there, I remember that it drizzles in England most of the time!
Bangladesh may have been great hosts, but its men’s cricket team performed poorly. They were the only team not to win a match; even an Associate, the Netherlands, won one. Shakib al Hasan thinks that fans' high expecta- tions are part of the problem; and not playing in front of the home fans for two years is the solution. Really? Aren't "Tigers" supposed to be brave? The fans were only exhorting team members to perform up to their potential. They did not. Shakib may have performed well with the bat, but no one excelled with the ball. Good bowling is a prerequisite for winning cricket matches.
Granted, T20 is a bit of a crapshoot and not Bangladesh's forte. T20 certainly is not the favourite of the mighty Australians, who had to beat Bangladesh to escape being tagged the worst team in the tournament. The sad truth is Bangladesh's men's cricket team is regressing.
Bangladesh knocked India out of 2007 World Cup. It defeated a formidable English team in the 2011 World Cup. It should have won the Asia Cup in 2012, losing to Pakistan by 2 runs in the final. It defeated New Zealand in seven consecutive ODis.
Now Bangladesh cannot win a match in any format. It even lost to Afghanistan and Hong Kong in T20. To sharpen their skills, Bangladeshi players need to lock horns with better opposition, and play many more matches in all three formats. Improve Bangladesh must, because the footsteps behind from Associates like the Netherlands and Ireland are getting louder!
Bangladesh needs to learn from winning teams. For batting, they need look no further than India's Virat Kohli, the MVP of the 2014 ICC World T20. Kohli was in absolute command, and never looked like he was going to get out. One could argue that India could have won the final had Kohli got more of the strike.
For bowling, Bangladesh should emulate Sri Lanka, the champions. Their fast bowlers, medium pacers and spinners all bowled superbly to limit the prolific Indian batsmen to a paltry 130 runs in the final. Bangladeshi bowlers should learn from Sri Lankan captain Lasith Malinga how to bowl the death overs. Firing accurate yorkers outside off stump, Malinga hamstrung all Indian batsmen.
Bangladeshi captain should learn from Indian captain Dhoni, who has been deservedly named the captain of the Tournament XL Captaincy is critical. A good captain knows how to minimise the team's weaknesses and maximise its strengths. South African captain Faf du Plessis probably cost his team victory in the semifinal by opening the bowling with a part timer, Duminy, who conceded 14 runs to the Indian openers in the first over. In the final, Sri Lanka limited India to only 4 runs in the first over!
While Bangladesh's men under-performed, its women excelled. They won two matches and finished ninth in the competition. While they have a long way to go before contending against the likes of three-peating Aussie women's cricket team, they demonstrated that in the future they would be a force to be reckoned with.
It was befitting that Bangladesh women team's captain, Salma Khatun, was named to the 2014 ICC Women's T20 Tournament XI. Congratulations, Salma! With other budding stars like Rumana Ahmed, Lata Mondal and Panna Ghosh, Bangladesh women cricket team's future looks bright.
The writer is a Rhodes Scholar.