Heads high in defeat
ALL-ROUNDERS STEP UP PLEASE: The two star performers of the match, New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori (L) and Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al-Hasan pose with their respective cheques during the presentation ceremony at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium yesterday. Both men had good all-around contributions to the game and Vettori won the man-of-the-match award while Shakib was awarded for his outstanding performance in the match. Photo: STAR
Defeat at times is graceful. And wasn't that wonderful to watch the young brigade of Mohammad Ashraful pushing the mighty New Zealand on the fifth day of a Test match till conceding a defeat in the final session and then, for a change, leave the field with their heads held high.
The effort was indeed out of the ordinary from a team that rarely saw the dawn of a fifth or even a fourth day of a Test match.
Nobody had expected such a resolute performance from the Tigers like the resolute Kiwi captain Daniel Vettori who did a la Inzamamul Haq or Ricky Ponting only to stop an unbridled street celebration nationwide. The celebration might be held for a third time but cricket-crazy millions certainly take the opportunity to salute the Tigers for being competitive in its real sense.
It was just not a freakish individual performance but a collective effort and if these young guns continue to play like this an elusive Test win against a major team will come sooner rather than later.
Truly Bangladesh team achieved many things during the absorbing five days at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium. Questions may be raised against some individual errors or the captain himself might be put in the dock for his own contribution in the match, but at the end of the day this is how cricket goes….one's loss is another's gain.
But there is no denying the fact that the match was played with immense intensity with Bangladesh proving a point against the growing notion that they are the 'ugly sister' of the Test world.
If Shakib Al Hasan hogged the spotlight with a stupendous all-round performance then the determination of Mushfiqur Rahim and Mehrab Hossain provided the evidence that the young players at least know how to play the elite form of the game. It would be unfair not to say anything about debutant Nayeem Islam, the all-rounder who may not have been as successful as Shakib, Mushfiqur or Mehrab but made many believe that he has the temperament to play at this level.
And please don't forget this is almost a raw team following the mass exodus for the Indian Cricket League (ICL).
One final point however that the selectors can focus on is this. The inclusion of left-arm spinner Enamul Haque in the first Test might just have tipped the balance in the favour of the homer side. Far-sighted thinking by the selectors, before the second Test, may just achieve that goal.
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