MOMENTS
TUCKER'S REDEMPTION
On September 28, Rod Tucker was in the third umpire's box at the Dubai International Stadium where, after a seemingly interminable series of magnified replays, he gave Bangladesh opener and last hope Liton Das out stumped in the Asia Cup final against India. Claims of Indian conspiracy did the rounds after the Tigers lost the match and Tucker became the target of all manner of abuse from Bangladesh fans because, they said, the benefit of doubt should have gone to the batsman. Yesterday, Liton hit Kyle Jarvis uppishly to cover, where Sikandar Raza took the ball -- seemingly on the full -- but immediately signalled for umpires to check the take on video. The soft signal was out and it went to none other than Tucker, the third umpire for two of three matches in this series. The catch seemed clean at first but after Raza tumbled forward part of the ball seemed to touch the ground. It seemed a fifty-fifty decision with the fielder expressing doubt and the on-field umpire saying it was probably out. It is not known whether the torrent of hate or the fact that he was sitting in a Bangladeshi stadium had anything to do with it, but this time Tucker sided with Liton.
BAD GOOD THINGS HAPPEN IN THREES
Flurries of wickets seem par for the course for Bangladesh, so much so that when they reached 137 for four in the 28th over it almost seemed a given. And that is what happened. Mohammad Mithun, Mahmudullah Riyad and Mehedi Hasan Miraz departed for the addition of just two runs in 2.1 overs.
If we set the minimum wickets for a batting collapse to three wickets -- two quick wickets happen often enough -- for a maximum addition of 20 runs, one would think the Tigers are contractually obligated to have one every second game and, it turns out, for good reason.
In the six matches they played in last month's Asia Cup, the Tigers suffered the aforementioned collapses in four of them -- three wickets for eight runs in the opener against Sri Lanka, three for six against Afghanistan, three for 12 against Pakistan and three for 14 in the final against India. Bangladesh won the first three, with only mighty India managing to scrape through to a win in the last ball.
So for all those fretting about Bangladesh's continued frailty with the bat, leave the cricket to the experts. Heroes like Imrul Kayes and Mohammad Saifuddin need a crisis and the Tigers are only too happy to oblige.
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