From 1999 to 2015

The gloomy weather yesterday in Cardiff, where it rained heavily until late afternoon, did no favours to Bangladesh ahead of today's World Cup match against World Cup favourites and hosts England.

Skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Sabbir Rahman, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Mithun and Mosaddek Hossain were all restricted to indoor practice while the rest of the team opted to take a break from practice because they could not train outdoors. For a team that places great importance on momentum, it was not the ideal preparation for perhaps the toughest examination of their campaign, especially as they are coming off a loss against New Zealand in their last match.

The defeat threw light on the less-than-ideal form of some important players, and skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza included himself and star opener Tamim Iqbal in that category. Mashrafe has conceded 81 runs from 11 wicketless overs in the two matches so far, while Tamim has scored just 40 runs from 67 balls after getting starts against both South Africa and New Zealand -- uncharacteristic for a player who has been known for cashing in on good starts for the past four years.

"We are in the middle of the tournament now, so it is not as if we can change a lot through practice," Mashrafe told reporters yesterday. "But for some players, practice sessions are very important. If you talk about me, then obviously today practice was very important to top up certain things that are not happening for me on the field. Tamim is feeling the same. In that regard, I think we have been a little unlucky. For some of us the practice session was important, to get used to the wind, not being able to do which may not be a positive sign for us. But you can't do anything about the weather; we have to try to keep our confidence levels high."

Mushfiqur is one of those in form, but he has been a target of criticism for letting off Kane Williamson in the two-wicket loss against New Zealand, when he disturbed the bails with his elbow and negated a sure run-out at a crucial juncture.

"I think Mushfiqur is completely okay, and there is no reason not to be normal," said Mashrafe when asked about Mushfiqur's state after a social media barrage against the keeper. "And of course, there will be criticism surrounding those who are working. It is easy to do that. The team is supporting each other. It is normal, the people who are talking about it are the ones not able to take it normally."

After 44 days of cricket, we are just 2 days away from the much-awaited final of the World Cup. Be it England or New Zealand who win it on July 14 at Lord’s, one thing is sure, the game will have a new world champion. In all these days, we saw some unanticipated hits and some unexpected misses while we also saw those, who outlived the expectations. Making a comeback to the international cricket after a year-long ban, Australia opener David Warner impressed with his style. He was aggressive, throughout, as if he was there to prove a point. Shakib Al Hasan was a surprise package all together. Kane Williamson, as calm as monk, guided New Zealand to their second World Cup final with his brilliant batting. Mitchell Starc unleashed mayhem with his yorkers, while Jofra Archer proved his worth in his maiden World Cup appearance for England. A lot of them have impressed, but only one will take home the Player of the Tournament award. Here is a look at all those player who are in contention.

Shakib Al Hasan

Bangladesh failed to make it to the last four of the World Cup but Shakib Al Hasan was in form of his life. Shakib ended a prolific World Cup 2019 with 606 runs, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar’s record of the most runs scored in the group stage. The left-hander hammered two centuries and 6 half-centuries. Not only did he show his grace with the bat, the all-rounder also impressed with his spin bowling. Shakib scalped11 wickets for his side at an economy of 5.39. So this complete player is very much in contention for the player of the tournament, unless the ICC jury is in a mood to not hand the award to a player belonging to the team that did not quite contend for cricket’s greatest prize.

Rohit Sharma

With a World Cup record five  centuries in the 2019 event, India opener Rohit Sharma has been ahead of all other batsmen in the race. The India opener is the leading run scorer in the tournament with 648 runs from nine matches at an average of 81. Alongisde his five tons, he also has one half-century. Rohit was only 27 runs short of surpassing the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who leads the list of batsmen with most runs in a single edition of the World Cup, but he managed just a single run as India’s campaign at the World Cup came to an end with a semifinal defeat against New Zealand. Rohit was seen shedding tears then, but he may have something to smile about soon.

Mitchell Starc

Australia suffered their first semifinal defeat in a World Cup as hosts England crushed the five-time champions by 8 wickets to reach their first World Cup final in 27 years.

Although Australia’s World Cup journey ended, Mitchell Starc remains the highest wicket-taker in the tournament. The southpaw has picked 27 wickets in 10 innings at an economy of 5.43. Starc, also the player of the tournament in World Cup 2015, broke Glenn McGrath’s record for most wickets in a single edition of the showpiece event. The pacer also has two five-wicket hauls and two four-wicket hauls in this edition of the tournament to put a strong claim for his second player of the World Cup award in succession.

Kane Williamson stood with hands outstretched as an accurate throw from Martin Guptill ricocheted off a diving Ben Stokes’s bat and went for four in the 100th over of a sublime World Cup final at Lord’s on Sunday. If the ball had just found the keeper’s glove, or even if it deflected at a less acute angle and went to the short third man fielder, England would have needed seven runs from the last two balls, but the overthrow made it three from two. A tie, then a tied Super Over later, England had won the World Cup through the quite irrelevant measure of having hit more boundaries over the course of the game.

After scoring 27 per cent of his team’s runs over 11 games and also embodying the very philosophy that brought his team to the final, no one had more right to be disappointed, angered, disillusioned and frustrated by that overthrow. But Williamson put his hands down and got back to the business of leading his team with a steady hand. He repeated that when marshalling his fielders in the Super Over and, even when all was lost and all of Lord’s was celebrating, Williamson’s composure held when he talked to the TV cameras minutes after Guptill was run out trying to complete the World Cup-winning run.

For those who followed Williamson through the World Cup, this acceptance of ‘uncontrollables’ -- a word he repeated on numerous occasions before and after the epic final --  should not be surprising. While for most captains talking about focusing on their own team’s strengths rather than the opposition’s is little more than a soundbyte, Williamson lived that mantra and his team followed that example. It is this acceptance of not being able to control everything in the wide scope provided by a 50-over match that brought New Zealand to within inches of winning their maiden World Cup.

On paper, their team was formidable, but Guptill’s indifferent form at the top of the order put pressure on the middle order. It was none other than Williamson who bore the brunt of that pressure and with the continuing frailty at the top of the order, reassessed conditions and realities expertly to give New Zealand a fighting chance time and again.

While a loss of form or injuries would have had most captains cursing their luck, Williamson just recognised the reality of the situation. Instead, he hit an unbeaten 106 to secure a four-wicket win against South Africa and in the very next match, scored 148 against West Indies to set up a five-run win.

Even so, by the time the semifinals rolled around, not many would have given New Zealand a chance of winning against India because the Black Caps had scraped through on net run rate after losing their last three league games. But there again, Williamson scored 67 in New Zealand’s 239 for eight -- a total that seemed sub-par but, in another example of Williamson’s pitch-perfect assessment, proved to be very competitive as New Zealand won by 18 runs.

As captain, he focused on his team’s strength -- their superb seam bowling attack that could take wickets in English conditions and cover up for the oft-misfiring batting lineup -- and reassessed accordingly. His team followed by example. Even as Williamson departed for 30 in the final, the rest of the batsmen did not panic and just focused on getting a total that they believed their bowlers could defend through age-old wicket-taking methods, regardless of how strong England’s batting was.

It was an uncontrollable.

Although heartbroken, Williamson graciously accepted the player-of-the-tournament trophy at the end of the match. It is not just Bangladeshis who have asked why Shakib Al Hasan -- with the greatest all-round performance in World Cup history -- did not win the prize.  But for fans of cricket, there is rich justice in recognising a player who tapped into the essence of the game, understood and accepted its cruelties, scored the runs he could and in the process, led his team to within inches of the World Cup. Williamson may not have the coveted trophy, but his example over the last month and a half has been a triumph for cricket.

England all-rounder Ben Stokes, the hero of the final for the hosts as they clinched their maiden World Cup title, said that he will be apologising to Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson for the rest of his life after his accidental nudge with the bat led to one of the most critical moments in the game.

With England needing nine runs off three deliveries, Stokes struck one towards mid-wicket, and while going for a double, his bat came in the way of Martin Guptill’s throw from the deep. The ball ricocheted off his bat as he dived at the non-striker’s end and it went to the boundary. England were awarded six runs and they went on to seal the match in Super Over following more drama.

After the match, Christchurch-born Stokes said: “I am pretty lost for words. All the hard work to get here and be world champions, it’s an amazing feeling. Playing against New Zealand is always a good event, they are good lads.”

“I will be apologising to Kane for the rest of my life [re: the overthrow for the six]…It was written in the stars to happen for us,” Stokes added.

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson pointed to luck not working in his side’s favour after the game.

“That [Stokes’s accidental boundary] was a little bit of a shame, wasn’t it? You just hope it doesn’t happen at moments like that. Perhaps it wasn’t meant to be for us,” Williamson said.