Tigers braced for virtual semi

Bangladesh left-arm spinner Nahida Akter picked up her maiden T20I five-wicket haul to help set up a five -wicket win for her side against Pakistan in the first of the three-match series at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on Wednesday. 

Nahida's five wickets for eight runs helped Bangladesh bundle out Pakistan for 82 after which skipper Nigar Sultana Joty's watchful 28-ball 26 guided her side to victory with three balls to spare. 

Joty came to bat in the 10th over after the dismissal of top-order batter Sobhana Mostary. She managed to put away three boundaries and kept the score ticking while battling cramps in the latter stage to ensure Bangladesh go past the finish line in a match that almost went down to the wire. 

Earlier, Bangladesh imposed a trial by spin on the visitors after sending them to bat first as Joty had five spinners bowl through the innings following a couple of overs from seamer Marufa Akter. Apart from Nahida's fifer, Sultana Khatun, Rabeya Khan, and Shorna Akter picked up one wicket each. 

Pakistan's Bismah Maroof top-scored with a 29-ball 20. 

The second T20I will he held at the same venue on Friday.

An agonising five-run defeat against Pakistan saw Bangladesh bow out of the ongoing ICC Under-19 World Cup from the Super Sixes on Saturday. The reigning Asian Champions had high hopes of winning the title for the second time since 2020, and it seemed as if a semifinal berth was almost in their grasp. The Daily Star's Mazhar Uddin caught up with Stuart Law, the coach of the Bangladesh Under-19 side, as he reflected on the things that went wrong, takeaways for the young Tigers from the tournament in South Africa among a few other topics. The excerpts of the interview are as follows:

The Daily Star (DS): It must have been a painful exit for the Bangladesh team from the ICC Under-19 World Cup.

Stuart Law (SL): We spoke about not only winning the match but also in the time where we needed to keep that run-rate above Pakistan to qualify and spoke about the best way to do this. We won the toss and we would bowl first and try to restrict Pakistan under 200 which we did and did very well. Bowling was excellent; great performance from (Rohanat Doullah) Borson and (Sheikh Parvez) Jibon and they were standouts with the ball in hand and our fielding was excellent. We took great catches and executed a good run-out. We were really up for the fight. Then when we were batting, we knew we have 38.1 overs to score the runs which work out in four runs per over. Unfortunately, the pressure got a bit too much for us and Pakistan bowled very well with good pace. The pitch was different from what we been playing in Bloemfontein as there was good bounce and wasn't batter-friendly, so it was always going to be a little bit difficult. However, we feel we should have won the game and we should have been progressing to the semifinals. It was heartbreaking.

There were a lot of tears in the dressing room and the boys were really upset and disappointed with their performance with the bat after putting on a great performance in the field. It was a tough one to comprehend and to explain the last evening for the players, it was difficult. We all wanted to continue this journey forward but unfortunately it was cut short.

DS: How much does it hurt you as a coach?

SL: It doesn't hurt me as a coach but it hurts me because the players are so upset. I am not here for myself, I am here for the players. I have been on this journey for 20 months with them and I think I have missed one practice game in cricket throughout the whole 20 months. To watch these boys to develop not only as young cricketers but also as young men, it was a huge outpour of emotion. I hope you don't want to feel that often as I said to the boys last night (Saturday), 'look pain of this defeat will disappear, it's the memories that we created will last forever. Just think about the memories we are still Asia Cup champions and will remain the Asia Cup champions for the next two years. That's a huge positive and the first time Bangladesh achieved the feat. So there's really good things we have achieved along with the journey and we have numerous series wins and two wins outside of Asia. Hopefully, the hurt of missing out on the semifinal will disappear quickly and we fly out of South Africa today and hopefully starting from tomorrow, it will be a lot easier to forget about it.

DS: Do you think batting was a concern for the team throughout the tournament?

SL: I always think we could have been better in all areas but we are talking about kids who are under-19. Every day they are going to make mistakes as a young man learns from making mistakes. Yes, we have made similar mistakes quite often which is probably more concerning than actually making the mistake. It's a development stage in their career; to play at the higher level under extreme pressure is only going to benefit them in the long run. Yes, everyone wants to win, don't get me wrong, this age group shouldn't be all about winning. We should bank on unearthing some of the talents for the Bangladesh senior team in years to come. I think we have achieved that quite well.

DS: Who are the players you think can go on to represent the senior team soon?

SL: There are a few and from the bowling point of view. I mentioned Borson and I will get back to the Asia Cup semifinal against India and in the final against UAE, he was unbelievable. We had a good quality back up in Maruf (Mridha) and (KIqbal Hossain) Emon as well. But the standout fast bowler would be Borson and probably the lesser mentioned spinner would be Jibon. In all conditions, whether it's a spinning one or not he finds a way to create pressure and put dot balls together and he got wickets in important time and he was outstanding against Pakistan too. There's another: Ariful (Islam) -- against Ireland, USA and Nepal he scored some quick runs to elevate the run-rate. I think they got to develop in how to get better in their games and there is one thing that Ariful needs to learn is how to rotate the strike when there is pressure. (Ashiqur Rahman) Shibly had a good Asia Cup as well and he is probably on the radar.

DS: What will be your message to the players who will now take a step further in domestic circuit from the under-19 level?

SL: My message would be to go out there and to listen to their coaches. Every coach has a different philosophy at different level and you need to do what the coach and the team needs. The process doesn't change; what they have learnt here will give them success everywhere they go as long as they stick to it and believe it. Batting is one of the departments which still needs developments and needs to understand the value of a solid defence, being able to use your footwork and create better opportunities to rotate strikes and power. They all got power in their timing, so they don't really need to go to all these power hitting coaches. You know 90 percent of your power comes from your makeup, DNA. So these guys need to find another way to get the job done as they have got good skills. Just keep drilling these things.

DS: What is your personal plan from here on?

SL: I haven't been spoken to by Bangladesh about continuing. There are a few opportunities in the pipeline for me. I would dearly like to stay with Bangladesh and continue my work here and really enjoyed seeing the boys from the 2016 Under-19 side as part of the coaching panel back then and how they are doing well at the international stage. I really enjoy my time in Bangladesh and I don't have any bad words to say as it's a great place to work and the players are receptive and responsive and eager to learn and get better. That just gives you a great feeling to continue. Conversations are yet to happen, so I don't know at this stage what is going on.

Chairman of Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) Women's Wing Shafiul Alam Chowdhury Nadel confirmed that the 26 contracted players of the national team pool did not get paid for five months due to a 'technical reason'. 

Nigar Sultana Joty's troops clinched a 2-1 ODI series win over Pakistan after winning the third and final match in Mirpur on Friday after which it was reported that the players had not been getting their wages for five months.

Nadel explained the whole scenario pointing out that the board had not signed on the agreed contract list of players that needed to be sent to the accounts section for approval of the players' wages.

"It's because of a technical reason. We delivered the contract list (of players) to the board long before. Now, if the accounts department does not receive it from the board then they cannot approve the salaries. 

"Since everyone was busy playing in series, tournaments, and camps, no one felt the financial difficulty nor did anyone inform me about it. I got to know four to five days back," Nadel told The Daily Star on Monday.

According to Nadel, none of the players had notified him about this mishap and did not create a ruckus despite not being paid for a period of five months. 

Following the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in South Africa in February, the national team played series against Sri Lanka, India and them went to China to take part in the Asian Games before taking on Pakistan at home.  

"I told Papon bhai about it at a dinner party two days ago after the series win against Pakistan. I had discussions about it with the CEO before this. The players did not create an issue out of this. We have confirmed the list and they will receive their salaries in the next one or two days," he said.

The series win over Pakistan propelled the Tigresses to seventh on the ICC Women's Championship standings. The top six teams will qualify directly for the World Cup in 2025 in India.

The morning of September 29 must have broken with some harsh light for the Bangladesh cricketers in Dubai and their loyal fans back home. It was much the same on March 23, 2012, when the Asia Cup final against Pakistan was lost in the final ball in Mirpur the night before. But as time wore on in 2012, the pain of defeat gave way to a feeling of accomplishment born from the feeling that Bangladesh cricket had finally broken through and had defeated all but one of their more celebrated neighbours before falling at the final hurdle.

On Friday night, the pain of failure at the final hurdle in the final ball -- this time against India -- haunted the cricketers and cricket lovers once again. Like 2012, this pain too shall pass but there will be a different sense of accomplishment from Asia Cup 2018.

Defeating Sri Lanka in the opener, then Afghanistan and Pakistan in must-win games may sound par for the course for the team fans have come to know since 2012. However, winning two of those matches without talismanic opener Tamim Iqbal and the one against Pakistan without both Tamim and ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan is not something that would have been expected. Making the final in the kind of heat they had never experienced before and doing it with setbacks that would have crippled Bangladesh sides of the past marks a new level.

To accomplish that, young players who were part of the support cast -- Liton Das and Mohammad Mithun -- and those who were leaders in waiting but often seemed to need a helping hand -- Mustafizur Rahman and Mehedi Hasan Miraz -- came to the fore. That, and the tremendous fighting spirit shown by the Tigers throughout the two-week long event -- not least in taking India's chase of 222 down to the final ball on Friday -- will be Bangladesh's biggest takeaway.

"Everyone may think about the 2012 Asia Cup final, but I see it a little differently," Bangladesh opener Tamim had said on September 13, two days before the tournament opener against Sri Lanka in Dubai. "The 2012 Asia Cup was the tournament where we first got the belief that we could beat any team -- that we could be competitive.

"I remember that; not my four fifties or how we lost the final by two runs. I remember how we played as a team and beat teams that no one would have thought we could beat. We beat India and Sri Lanka, and lost two very competitive matches against Pakistan."

Little did Tamim know then that it was his injury two days later, which forced him to fly out of the Asia Cup and back home, that would contribute to this tournament being remembered as the next big step for Bangladesh after 2012.

Since 2012, Bangladesh's graph has trended upward, with occasional dips. But a common feature of that rise has been the people doing the heavy lifting. Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad have been the five cricketers who have worked wonders for Bangladesh cricket over much of the last decade.

But this Asia Cup was a departure from the norm because the Bangladesh team do not often do well with setbacks, especially when they have to fight with those setbacks against oppositions perceived to be superior. That happened in this tournament too -- losing the last group game against Afghanistan and the first Super Four match against India in abject fashion were a function of them struggling to overcome the setbacks of losing Tamim, scheduling confusions and having to play three matches in four days in 40-plus degree heat.

The recovery, and the architects of the recovery, will be the source of inspiration for future campaigns. While it is true that there was magical captaincy from Mashrafe, he still had to rely on opener Imrul Kayes to fly in on Saturday night and score a match-winning fifty against Afghanistan on Sunday from number six, rescuing the side in partnership with Mahmudullah from 87 for five. Faced with non-performing opening pairs, Mashrafe took the wildcard decision to open with number eight batsman Mehedi in the final, but the youngster still had to show the courage to be a part of a 120-run opening stand with a sublime Liton. For his part, Liton was the one who had to repay his captain's continued faith, and he did so with a maiden century in the most important game of the tournament.

Mushfiqur was Bangladesh's best batsman in the tournament with scores of 144 in the opening game and 99 against Pakistan. In both those innings, however, Mithun was an indispensable foil with innings of 63 and 60 in century-plus partnerships that rescued Bangladesh from top-order collapses. 

In each of Bangladesh's three wins in the tournament, someone other than the Big Five stepped up and took responsibility. The bowlers, led by Mashrafe, Mustafizur and Mehedi, were consistent throughout and the spirited fielding was the flag-bearer of the team's never-say-die spirit.

 "The positives depend on the individuals. I think losing to India twice was something that I didn't desire. When Shakib and Tamim are back, the team will do well in the future if we can hold on to this spirit," Mashrafe said after the match.

There will certainly be heartbroken fans who will rue another missed opportunity, another last-ball failure. But this tournament showed that the ingredients long craved for outside the Big Five are very much present and the work in progress is waiting for completion with the return of the two big stalwarts.

The takeaway from this latest heartbreak is that it will just be a matter of time before bittersweet gives way to unadulterated joy.

After an agonising defeat in the final of the Asia Cup against India in UAE on Friday night, the Bangladesh cricket team returned home last night with heads held high.

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and his troops fought till the last ball of the match defending a small total of 222, but ended up as runners-up once again.

It was a mixed bag for the Tigers in terms of performance and there were a lot of incidents on and off the field, making the competition a memorable one.

It started with Tamim Iqbal's return to bat with a finger injury and defending a Suranga Lakmal delivery against Sri Lanka in the opening game where the left-hander left the field early after suffering a blow to his left hand knuckle against the same bowler. Tamim's bravery was praised worldwide.

Mushfiqur Rahim smashed a magnificent hundred with a fractured rib in the same game before scoring 99 against Pakistan while Shakib Al Hasan's departure from the tournament following a finger injury ahead of the Pakistan game made matters more desperate for the Tigers.

Tigers' next assignment will be the upcoming home series against Zimbabwe later this month featuring three ODIs and two Test matches.

The Zimbabwe series will be followed by another home series against West Indies in November where they will play two Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is.

"We have two home series and the New Zealand tour. We have a lot of work to do in the next two series, where we will have to play well," Mashrafe told reporters after the defeat in the final on Friday.

The team management will also have to deal with the injury concerns of the senior members of the side ahead of the home series.