Bangladesh fans flash the V-sign prior to the start of Tigers' clash against Ireland in a World Cup Group B match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
Once again the vivacity of the crowd at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur yesterday proved the ultimate winners. The packed thousands saw their beloved Tigers initially bite the dust yet kept singing, dancing, drumming and cheering as loud and as long as they could. And in the end saw their undying fervor bore fruition as the Tigers ran home with a 27-run victory against Ireland in an utterly pulsating encounter.
If you were not here to witness it, you missed a hell of a party.
“I cannot tell you how glad I am tonight. It was my birthday, and I could not have wished for a better gift than this. This will remain one of the most memorable occasions of my life,” said an elated Mahmud, a chartered accountant from Shyamoli, who was one of those 25,000 fortunate to witness a memorable win by the Tigers.
Long after the victory, the jubilant supporters thr onged the street outside the stadium, honking horns, beating drums, and shouting at the top of their voice: Go, Tigers go.
“I thank Shafiul (Islam) for the way he tilted the match in our favour with those four wickets. In fact, I knew all the way that we would win once the Tigers had scored 205 runs. I'm sure they will win more matches with performance like this one,” shouted Roksana Munni from Dhaka University.
But the rapturous celebration was not just restricted to Mirpur. In Karwan Bazar, hundreds took to the streets with Bangladesh flags as people in cars and on motorbikes zoomed past, honking their approval at the win. Till the filing of this report, many were still thronged on the numerous over-bridges along the Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue.
The victory was a testament to the sporting crowd that seemingly egged the Tigers on throughout this nerve wrecking encounter. Not for a moment did the crowd give in, or let desperation creep in.
The crowd had two things on their mind as they entered the stadium in the morning; firstly they were expecting a repeat of the sensible batting display the Tigers had put up against India. Secondly they wanted to believe that Barbados was only an upset and a distant memory, and nothing of that sort could be reenacted here in Mirpur.
“Everything is in our favour here. We will play in our own conditions where even the Test-playing nations struggle. I am expecting Bangladesh to win easily today,” said Rasel Biswas, a Dhaka College student with red and green painted on his face before the start of the game.
But in reality it turned out to be a very close affair, a nail-biting contest that swung in either direction right to the end before the Tigers had the last roar.
A brisk start was undone when the Tigers started doing all the wrong things one could ask for -- an unnecessary run-out, a set batsmen playing shots as if it was school cricket, and the captain, of all people, playing profligate, not once but twice.
Yet the crowd kept believing in the Tigers. Every single run was cheered on by the crowd as if it was the winning run, every opposition appeal was boisterously disapproved of as if the campaign was at stake.
“We know Bangladesh were beaten twice by Ireland, but we are not counting those and don't want to give those defeats a place in the mind,” was the conviction of Adil who came from Shantinagar.
It was a desperate situation indeed for the Tigers. A lot depended on the result, the onus of proving that the 2007 defeat was an upset and also to justify that they are one tier above their Associate counterparts on merit. Probably that pressure of delivering and the nerves of proving their status on the big stage had a bearing on their performance.
The essence of the occasion, the emotion of the moment was perhaps captured most ironically by the DJ who kept playing the song “Viva La Vida” every time a Bangladesh wicket fell.
The theme of the song speaks about the fall from grace of a mighty emperor. Mighty may not be the Tigers, but still they were the big brothers against their Associate counterparts. So they had the onus to restore that pride and restore it they did.
