Before Bangladesh vs India match Mahmudullah Riyad back to batting
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12:00 AM, July 01, 2019 / LAST MODIFIED: 11:04 AM, July 01, 2019

Mahmudullah back to batting

The Tigers were relieved to have Mahmudullah Riyad back in training in Edgbaston yesterday, the first time since he sustained a calf injury against Afghanistan on June 24. Photo: BCB

The injury cloud looming over Mahmudullah Riyad got a bit lighter yesterday during Bangladesh’s first practice session since their 62-run win over Afghanistan as the senior middle-order batsman batted in the nets in full gear at the practice ground in Edgbaston.

However, Mahmudullah -- who has sustained a Grade 1 tear on his right calf muscle during the World Cup match against Afghanistan on June 24 -- did not take any part in fielding practice. Bangladesh’s next World Cup assignment is a crucial match against India tomorrow and they would desperately want their full team firing if they are to stay alive in the tournament by winning their next two matches.

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Mahmudullah was diagnosed with the tear on the day of the match against Afghanistan and it was expected that he would need seven to 10 days to recover for the match that was set to take place exactly a week later. The 33-year-old however had insisted that he would play the match against India in any way possible.

Mahmudullah has played two crucial innings in this edition of cricket’s mega event, hitting an unbeaten 46 off 33 balls in the opening win over South Africa at The Oval and then cracking a 50-ball 69 in the loss to Australia on June 20 in Trent Bridge. He also played a vital hand against Afghanistan, scoring a 38-ball 27 during a 56-run fifth-wicket stand with Mushfiqur Rahim on a slow wicket in Southampton.

Known as one of the cleanest hitters in the lineup, Mahmudullah’s presence at number six is a valuable one as he will be expected to take the attack to the vaunted Indian attack in the final stages of the innings.

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Bangladesh forward Mosammat Sagorika said she drew inspiration from the presence of her parents at the Birshreshtha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Dhaka to go that extra mile in rescuing a draw for her side against India in the SAFF U-19 Women's Championship final on Thursday. 

India led in the eighth minute of the match, courtesy of Shibani, and had the game in control for the most part but it seemed that Sagorika had other plans as she found the equaliser for Bangladesh deep into stoppage time, taking the game to penalties.

Photo: Firoz Ahmed

Sagorika's strike helped the women in red and green become joint champions along with India following a controversial decision from the match commissioner, who opted for a coin toss to determine the result instead of continuing with the penalty shootout after all eleven players from each team converted their spot kicks.

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Coin-toss chaos

"I did not know that my parents would come to watch the final match. During the interval, I was astonished when someone told me that my father and mother had come to the stadium and I ran to them. I am very happy that my parents came this far to watch me on the ground," Sagorika said after the match.  

Photo: Firoz Ahmed

The striker burst into tears as she hugged her parents soon after the completion of the prize-giving ceremony.

"I had the determination to show my parents that I could score goals and perform well because everyone told me that I could not do much with my parents present on the stands but I was able to do it for my parents and nation," said  Sagorika, who revealed once not allowed by her father to play football.

Photo: Firoz Ahmed
Photo: Firoz Ahmed

"Initially, my father did not allow me to play football but he supported me a lot afterwards and I promised them that I would become a big player one day. Today, I showed my parents that I could also do it," Sagorika said

Photo: Firoz Ahmed

Sagorika said she was happy to hear that her neighbors who were critical of her watched her performance by setting up a projector in the village. She also expressed her satisfaction to have struck the equaliser in what helped Bangladesh become joint champions.

"I was feeling bad when India scored against us. I was thinking why we would not be able to get a goal as we were playing better football. There was a good feeling after scoring the equaliser," Sagorika said. "Of course, there was regret for not becoming the standalone champions. We should be champions but we are also happy being joint champions."
Sagorika said her ultimate goal was to play for the senior team and realised that she still had a long way to achieve that.

Photo: Firoz Ahmed

"Securing a place in the senior national team will be very hard because there are a lot of good players who play better and I know I have to perform better to secure a place in the national team. I am ready to work harder," said Sagorika.

Bangladesh captain Afeida Khandokar, who led the side for the first time, said she was not aware of the coin toss stipulation that was carried out. Despite the confusion leading to controversy, she said she had no sorrow and was happy to be joint champions.

Photo: Firoz Ahmed

"There is nothing to feel sorrowful about, rather it is happiness for us because we added another accolade to our team, irrespective of the way we became champions. If we could have become sole champions, the joy would have been greater for me because I captained the team for the first time," said the central defender

"How could the fate of the match be decided by a coin toss as it is not in the by-laws? Neither the match commissioner nor the referee told me about the toss that would decide the championship. I thought that the toss was taking place because of the re-taking of the penalty shootout," said Afeida. 
 

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Martin Guptill played a full ball on leg stump from Jofra Archer to deep midwicket. Two runs were needed off the last ball of the Super Over and he put in a desperate dive -- the second fateful one in less than half an hour -- to complete the second, but there was too much ground between his bat and the World Cup trophy calling to him from just beyond the crease. Jos Buttler gathered the throw, which was well wide of the stumps, but there was enough time to whip the bails off, which he did and started running towards the gallery in ecstasy, followed by his teammates and fuelled by possibly the loudest roar ever heard at Lord’s.

England had won their first ever World Cup, had won it at home -- the third successive home victory in World Cups after India’s in 2011 and Australia’s in 2015.

But runs could not separate New Zealand and England in the greatest World Cup final yesterday, even though the teams had two chances to get ahead. The match saw two ties -- one in normal play and one in the Super Over. Buttler celebrated immediately because he knew that England, having hit more boundaries -- 22 fours and two sixes to New Zealand’s 14 fours and two sixes -- in the 50-over portion, had edged the tie-breaker to a tie-breaker.

England had sent Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes -- the man who made the Super Over possible with his last-over heroics -- and the duo hit two boundaries while scoring 15 runs off Trent Boult, who nearly defended 14 runs in the last over of normal time.

The pacey Jofra Archer came in to bowl for England and New Zealand had nominated Jimmy Neesham and Guptill to score the 16 runs that would give them their first World Cup. Archer started with a wide, conceded two the next ball and Neesham hammered a six off the third ball. With seven required off four balls Neesham scampered a pair of doubles before getting just a single off the penultimate ball. That set the stage for the last ball, after which there was heartbreak for New Zealand and elation for most of the 30,000 gathered at Lord’s.

Before the high-octane two-over finish, there was a pulsating 100-over contest that led up to that point. New Zealand bowled brilliantly to defend 241 for eight, and England’s Ben Stokes hit a nearly perfectly-paced 98-ball 84 to take England level after they were at one stage 86 for four.

It was nearly perfectly paced because he needed fortune to end up as the player-of-the-match. There was another despairing dive before Guptill’s, this one during the last over of normal play when England needed nine runs from three balls. Stokes, having just hit a six after playing two dot balls from Trent Boult, whipped a ball away to deep midwicket and dove to beat the throw -- from none other than Guptill -- and the ball deflected off the bat and ran away for four. That effectively brought six runs from the fourth ball. With three more required from the last two balls, Adil Rashid was run out at the non-striker’s end after Stokes had hit to long off. With two more needed off the last ball, last man Mark Wood was run out trying to take the match-winning second, bringing on the Super Over in a World Cup final that will go down in folklore as one of the greatest matches -- let alone World Cup finals -- ever played.

Before that, Buttler and Stokes had put on 110 runs for the fifth wicket to fish England out of trouble. Buttler was the dominant partner, scoring 59 off 60 balls. When the last 10 overs started England needed 72 runs with Buttler and Stokes at the crease. But that is when the Kiwis started turning it around as Jimmy Neesham and Lockie Ferguson bowled to their fields and dried up the boundaries. Buttler departed in the 45th over with 45 still left to win, caught in the deep off Ferguson trying to re-lease the pressure. Chris Woakes departed for 10 in the 47th over, caught behind off a fiery Ferguson. England needed 24 off the last two overs. Liam Plunkett holed out off Jimmy Neesham, caught at long off by Boult. In another stroke of luck for Stokes, Boult nearly pulled off a stunner off the fourth ball of the over when he caught the ball at the boundary, but his feet had touched the ropes before he could throw it back for a combination catch. Neesham then accounted for Jofra Archer, bowling him for a first-ball duck with a slower ball. With two wickets left and 15 runs to get, it seemed New Zealand’s match, but that is when the match turned from a classic to a thriller of epic proportions.

Earlier, the crunch battle was England’s belligerent opening pair of Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow taking on New Zealand’s incisive new-ball duo of Trent Boult and Matt Henry.

The left-handed Boult almost accounted for Roy in the very first ball of the innings, rapping the right-hander with a sharp inswinger that seemed headed for the stumps. New Zealand reviewed the not-out decision, but the decision stayed with the umpire as just a part of the ball was hitting leg stump.

While New Zealand brought Test-match ethos by trying for wickets with early movement, Roy repre-sented England’s limited-overs motto by going hard at anything that was slightly off line or length. He hit three boundaries in that process, but Henry also had him playing and missing on numerous occasions with perfectly pitched outswingers. Eventually, Roy got close enough to one of those and edged through to the keeper in the sixth over with the score on 28.

If New Zealand’s bowling was in Test-match mode, their fielding was very much of the cutting-edge limited-overs variety, scampering after every ball and throwing themselves at every ball to support Boult, Henry, the pacey Lockie Ferguson and the variety-laden Colin de Grandhomme. Roy’s dismissal saw just 31 runs in the next 65 balls and it was the pressure built up through that concerted effort that induced Joe Root to go for an airy drive and edge behind to the keeper in the 17th over off de Grandhomme.

Bairstow departed next when he played on to a fast Ferguson lifter in the 20th over with the score reading 71 for three and the required run rate nudging six an over. That set the stage for New Zealand’s comparative weak link of Jimmy Neesham to come on and England skipper Eoin Morgan, perhaps trying to release the pressure, went early at a long hop off the first delivery and Ferguson took a superb catch running in from deep point and diving forward to send Morgan on his way.

Earlier still, ages ago it seemed by the end of the match, New Zealand were restricted to 241 for eight by a strong bowling performance from England. Liam Plunkett took three for 42 and Chris Woakes three for 37 as England successfully managed to deny New Zealand’s danger men Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor meaningful contributions, which they had done throughout the World Cup. Opener Henry Nicholls top-scored with 55. Even after Taylor and Williamson’s departures, New Zealand played within their means and concentrated on getting just enough runs on the board to put pressure on England in the biggest match of their lives in front of a partisan crowd. They put faith in their bowling lineup to dial up that pressure, and that is exactly what they did.

At the end, however, England proved equal to the task and their boundary count, and a stray deflection, saw them crowned champions at home.

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India edged Bangladesh 1-0 in their Asian Games fixture at the Xiaoshan Sports Center Stadium in China yesterday, courtesy of an 85-minute penalty conversion by prolific striker Sunil Chhetri.

Bangladesh Olympic team will play their last match against group-toppers China, while India and Myanmar square off, but two defeats in succession has all but thrown the men in red and green out of the competition.

Javier Cabrera's team, though, still have a slim chance of qualifying for the round of 16 as four third-place teams from six groups can advance as well.

India, on the other hand, were lucky to leave the field with a desperate win -- their fourth against Bangladesh in Asiad -- after having suffered a heavy defeat against China.

It was Bangladesh, boosted by the presence of eight national players, who comparably created better chances. But like it happened against Myanmar, Bangladesh forwards squandered several good chances while Rahmat Mia's committed the grave error with a foul inside the box.

"It's true that we missed five to six chances against Myanmar... but against India it was less. Honestly If we could do it [convert chances], we could have won the game," Bangladesh coach said.

 

Tigresses face Hong Kong

Medal-aspirants Bangladesh's women's cricket team will begin their campaign today when they take on Hong Kong in a quarterfinals fixture at the Zhejiang University of Technology Pingfeng Cricket Field. The match will get underway at 12pm (Bangladesh time).

Bangladesh, who grabbed consecutive silver medals in 2010 and 2014, are eager to start on the right foot against Hong Kong.

The Tigresses "have been in good shape," as far as captain Nigar Sultana Joty is concerned. "We have prepared for one month in Sylhet for the Asian Games, played a few practice matches and also prepared ourselves here for two days. I think the team are focused on performing well," she said.

Meanwhile, both Pakistan and India moved into the semifinals after their quarterfinals matches were abandoned due to the rain.

 

Women booters up against mighty Japan

Bangladesh women's football team will make their Asian Games debut today, and that too against former world champions Japan at the Wenzhou Olympic Sports Center at 5:30 pm (Bangladesh time).

"We are playing the Asian Games for the first time and against a strong Japan. I want to have the blessing from the countrymen, so that we perform well against Japan," said captain Sabina Khatun.

Coach Saiful Bari Titu pointed out the gulf of difference between two sides and said the match will provide a learning platform for the reigning SAFF champions.

"I have instructed the girls to not think about the outcome of the match," he said.

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Captain Afeida Khandokar, forwards Mosammat Sagorika, Munki Akhter, Puja Das, and others looked calm and relaxed as they had a light practice session on the eve of the SAFF U-19 Women's Championship final against India today.

The girls certainly have reasons to be stress-free and relaxed as they stand on the verge of yet another triumph in the regional age-level women's football tournaments which were introduced for various age groups in 2017.

At the age level, Bangladesh lifted trophies a record four times, one more than today's opponents India. Bangladesh won all of those titles -- U-15, U-18, U-19, and U-20 -- at the Birshrestha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur which is also the venue for today's final.

Bangladesh are now set for their fifth final at home and expecting to keep their winning record intact. The fact that they have defeated India thrice in the final of the U-15, U-18, and U-19 championships also bodes well for the girls in red and green.

"Definitely, we will have some advantage playing on the ground where the girls train regularly," head coach Saiful Bari Titu was optimistic ahead of facing a strong India side. "The advantage will come into play if the girls can perform on this ground and know what they have to do tomorrow [Thursday]."

Titu, who took charge of the side following the departure of successful coach Golam Rabbani Choton, believes his charges are inspired enough to deliver the best.

"The girls have always been inspired because they became champions before too. The mentality of the girls is different than others and I think I don't need to motivate them much for the final because they know what they have to do in the final," said the experienced coach.

Captain Afeida was confident as well ahead of the all-important clash against India, a team they beat 1-0 in the group stage.

"We are not taking any extra pressure for the final because it will put us under pressure," Afieda said. "We have full belief in the hard work we did for this tournament and we will take to the ground with the belief of doing well."

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When Sauravi Akanda Prity missed the first attempt in the penalty shootout of the SAFF U-16 Women's Championship final against India on Saturday, the apprehension of a sinking ship close to the shore must have gripped the entire team.

India coach Biby Thomas Muttath had taken off regular goalkeeper Munni and brought on Surajmuni Kumari just before the end of regulation time. Surajmuni pulled off a brilliant save to deny Prity, later adjudged the most valuable player of the competition.

Then stepped up Yearzan Begum and changed the fate of the final with a starring performance under the bar, saving three Indian spot-kicks to help Bangladesh emerge as unbeaten champions with a 3-2 win.

Yearzan blocked the final attempt from Linda Divyani, sending her teammates and a handful of Bangladeshi supporters at the gallery into wild euphoria at the ANFA Complex in Lalitpur, Nepal.

Yearzan Begum. PHOTO: BFF

"It is a different feeling to become the best goalkeeper in my debut international tournament. I want to thank my coach to take me to this level. I am really happy. I want to dedicate this award to my coach and my father," said Yearzan, overwhelmed with emotion.

The final battle entered the dramatic shootout after Bangladesh defender Mariam Binte Hanna cancelled out India's Anushka Kumari's fourth-minute lead in the 71st minute with a side-volley on a corner kick. And while Prity's effort was stopped and Alpi Akter's attempt came off the woodwork, Yearzan made sure Bangladesh regained the title of the age-group completion (played alternatively between under-15 and under-16 levels) since their maiden triumph in 2017.

Since the maiden success in the SAFF Women's Championship in 2022, Bangladesh women have now added three more accolades to their growing trophy cabinet by winning the SAFF Under-20 Women's Championship, SAFF Under-19 Women's Championship and SAFF U-16 Women's Championship titles.

Although Prity won the most valuable player award, she missed out on the top-scorer's trophy to India's Anushka Kumari by the odd goal. However, she wasn't disappointed at all for not winning the individual accolade.

"I don't have any regrets for not winning the top-scorer award because becoming the champions is the most important thing. We had confidence and belief that Yearzan could make the saves and deliver the trophy," said Prity, who scored five goals in the three round-robin matches of the competition.

Captain Arpita Biswas revealed that she had the confidence in her teammates, saying that ever since she touched the trophy at the pre-final photoshoot, she had her eyes on the ultimate prize.

"I was very excited to see the trophy at the pre-final event. I touched the trophy and since then I was determined to take this trophy home. I also transferred my dream to my teammates and told them not to allow India to take it."

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