Cherish the night

"Is the match over?" the CNG autorickshaw driver asked rather matter-of-factly as his vehicle speeded towards the Bangabandhu National Stadium (BNS). He was not aware that Bangladesh's cricketers were on the verge of history -- just two wickets away from a first ever one-day international victory at home and that too against the might of India.

There were also no activities on the streets to suggest that the earth was about to move at the BNS as free roads and pavements devoid of the of a hartal hangover.

Outside the stadium things were unusually muted and that was because between the three-odd overs it took to reach the BNS from Karwan Bazar, the Indian ninth wicket pair had put on some useful runs and still had enough time and deliveries to steal an undeserving victory. But this was the day when no other result but a Bangladesh win would have been fair simply because of the kind of passion and character the Tigers had displayed on the field. And it would also have been a big let down for the massive BNS crowd that was 40,000 on liberal estimate but looked suspiciously much bigger than that.

Thankfully, after a few hundred nails have been chewed and some heartbeats missed, Mashrafee-Bin-Mortuza dived and grabbed a blinder on the run at widish long on after the ball appeared to have taken an eternity to reach him. Suddenly you could sense the relief all around. Then Aftab Ahmed's decisive throw from point sparked a never-ending party and no one was waiting for the television replay for confirmation of Bangladesh's greatest moment so far in 2005.

There were tears of joy everywhere you looked and complete strangers were hugging each other. Before the Bangladesh players could break out of their celebratory huddle, coach Dav Whatmore, Manager MA Latif Khan and the entire Tigers' support staff were out of the blocks and assembled outside the boundary line.

Then came the moment to savour. Whatmore never more emotion choked, was lost in the embrace of his charges with the whole stadium roaring 'Bangladesh, Bangladesh' making a collective sound that would have made any Royal Bengal Tiger proud.

The Bangladesh team then went on a victory lap and no Bangladeshi could be faulted for thinking it to be the first of many. Mohammad Ashraful and his fellow diminutive showstopper Aftab Ahmed competed the somersault honours and settled for a tie. This was also the time to become schoolboys again.

"I never knew Mashrafee had so much brain," quipped captain Habibul Bashar at the post-game press conference. Bashar was at his wittiest best when an Indian reporter asked him what was the secret behind such a fantastic fielding performance. "Not dropping catches," answered Bashar.

And the Indians were coming to terms with the realisation that Bangladesh can really hurt the big boys. Yesterday was the day when all experiments ended.

"We will be at full strength tomorrow because it is the decider," said captain Sourav Ganguly.

While all this was happening, the country around us had warmed up fully to the occasion albeit a little belatedly. The Bangladesh team bus just could not move past the sea of well-wishers and no-one complained.