In the just concluded tri-nation one-day international cricket, Bangladesh started with a bang only to end in a whimper. When the two opponents Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe -- both at the bottom rung of today's elite club of cricket -- arrived, cricket lovers here felt optimistic about Bangladesh's ultimate success in such a series. They had every reason to feel so because Sri Lankan cricket is undergoing reorganisation and Zimbabwe is now a spent force. The cricket-loving nation hoped and believed its team would be at least third time lucky to shrug off their disappointment in the past two finals -- one in a tri-nation series in 2009 and in the Asia Cup in 2012. Instead, the team has earned for it a hat trick of title losses. Hope has turned into anguish and enthusiasm into deep disappointment.
Who says morning shows the day? It is not for the Tigers, at least. They began on a very strong note. The way Bangladesh defeated Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe was enough to convince the cricket fans here that their team was superior to its opponents. The Tigers were first to clinch its berth in the final. Had Sri Lanka not won in the last match at the round robin stage against Bangladesh, which for Bangladesh was just a formality but for the Lankans a do-or-die match, the visiting team would have met its exit from the tournament. The Sri Lankans also lost a match against the Zimbabweans and their elimination would have depended on the nature of the defeat. Did Bangladesh take that match a little casually? Or, did Hathurusinghe, Lankan coach on his first assignment after leaving Bangladesh, have a few tricks up his sleeves? He surely is a strategist who did not expose his hat-trick man Shehan Madushanka before the final. Maybe also, Bangladesh was a little too complacent to take the last two matches seriously enough.
The disappointment hurts more, because the Tigers showed promise enough to capture the title this time. In the Asia Cup too, the team raised expectation high. Clearly they have not learnt the lesson from the two defeats in finals way back. This is not a good sign. New Zealand once earned the infamy of a choker for similar failure in the crucial moment. Bangladesh surely would not like to have a similar tag on their back. Great teams refuse to yield under pressure. Bangladesh have developed a tendency to break down when the psychological pressure is on. In the match against India at Dharmashala, Bangladesh surrendered a match that was theirs for taking.
True, the injury to Shakib the leading player in Bangladesh team played a part in the defeat. But this is no excuse. Such reversals are part of the game. A team must learn how to get over such unsettling situations and still give their best. On the day, except Mahmudullah, no other batsman could deliver what was expected of them. By no means Sri Lanka's was an imposing total. Had someone accompanied Mahmudullah for a positive partnership or there were two or three modest partnerships, the target could be achieved. This is lack of application. Let the Bangladesh team come out of this to do justice to their talent and potential.