Learning a lesson from Bangladesh
Passion, commitment and the will to win – those were the vital ingredients that the green clad Bangladesh cricketers possessed during their conquering march through the Asia Cup tournament. They may have fallen at the post but they made sure that cricket as a whole was the ultimate winner. Then it was cricket in the South Asian sub-continent which received a certificate of benefit. Why? With this show, the Bangladeshi cricketers have added another 160 million cricket fans to the sub-continental larder without any doubt.
This also means that the sub-continent’s cricket politics becomes so much stronger. The cricket market here has gone up by more than a few notches and hopefully the BCCI does not end up being the ultimate beneficiary of this progress. There is now officially another major force in the big leagues of cricket who could take on any other side on their own terms with over 160 million people to back them. Now imagine if Pakistan could also burn the bridges and see a new dawn in their home cricket. What a boon it would be to the ever so good Television magnates?
That’s the brighter side of the picture. There is another side to the picture hidden by the darker side of the wall. Just prior to this upsurge in Bangladesh’s cricket, they too hosted a T-20 cricket carnival, the Bangladesh Premier League, where they had the likes of Keiron Pollard of the West Indies, Herschelle Gibbs of South Africa and our own Muttiah Muralitharan and Sanath Jayasuriya showcasing their skills. This tournament seems to have had a positive influence on their cricket, whereby they have lost their fear for the foreigner. Yet, the taste of T-20 could mean another setback to the all-pure form of Test cricket. In India it has already happened. During their tours of England and Australia they crash landed with a huge thud. Cricket in Bangladesh is yet too young to suffer repercussions of that nature.
In the first game they fell short by 21 runs to Pakistan and then felled the 2011 World Cup finalists – India and Sri Lanka-in successive outings. What more could you ask for? They learned the art of winning and Pakistan, the other standing giant, also felt the wrath of the ‘Tiger’. They came as close as two runs to being devoured.
However Sri Lanka’s plight in the Asia Cup 2012 was the most woeful in their cricket history. Sri Lanka was a