In a match they needed to win following their loss in the opening match against India, Bangladesh came out on top in front of a capacity crowd at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
In the 27-run victory, the bowlers, particularly Shafiul Islam was the hero. But to Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan, their real inspiration was the crowd that never lost its voice even when the Tigers were struggling during the first innings.
Shakib had won the toss for the second successive occasion, and unlike in the opening match, he chose to bat. But Bangladesh had been shot out for a lowly 205 in the first innings, and a repeat of Ireland's shock victory in the 2007 World Cup over the Tigers seemed to be on the cards. With the match in the bag, though, Shakib stressed that they were not dreading a loss at the halfway mark.
“During the innings break, the team came and told me not to worry, and that we would win by 20 30 runs. That gave me a lot of confidence, and the team was also very confident,” Shakib said at the post-match press conference.
“We didn't apply ourselves with the bat, but the bowling and fielding was excellent, and the support from the crowd was unbelievable. We never saw such support and we may not see such support again. I don't think any crowd supports their team like the crowd has supported us in the World Cup,” said the captain, gushing in his praise of the Tigers' fans.
Each run was cheered raucously when they were batting, and each run saved was cheered with even more gusto when they were bowling. The crowd never lost its voice, even when Bangladesh were losing wickets in their first innings. Though the win was cause for celebration, Bangladesh's failure with the bat was a dark cloud that had to be addressed.
“We are not too worried. In the first match we scored 283 against India, and they are the no. 1 or 2 ranked side in the world,” Shakib said, and added, “We have been consistent with the bat, and here we started really well. We need to build some good partnerships. In the previous match we bowled badly, in this match we batted badly, perhaps in the next match we will do both well.”
The next match, against the West Indies, is another big one which Bangladesh will look to win to further their ambition for a quarterfinal place. The question of team composition came up, and with it the subplot of Mohammad Ashraful's selection and whether the batting of Mahmudullah Riyad -- the man Ashraful replaced in the eleven -- was missed in the match against Ireland was raised. Ashraful, though failing with the bat, turned things around with the ball, taking two crucial wickets for 42 from nine overs.
“I don't think so. It didn't make much of a difference. To tell you the truth, Ashraful Bhai performed better than I expected with the ball. And he was picked to score runs in Powerplay situations, which have recently been a problem area for us,” Shakib said. “As for the West Indies match, it is difficult to say what team we will play as we have not yet discussed that.”
The Ireland captain William Porterfield, in contrast, cut an unhappy figure. Porterfield thought that after bowling out Bangladesh for a measly 205 on a good batting surface Ireland should have won the match.
“The first fifty overs of the game we did everything we wanted to do. To get them for 205 on a pitch like that, we should have knocked off those runs,” said the Ireland captain. He did not think there was a turning point in particular, just that they kept losing wickets. “I don't think there were any turning points in particular. Chasing four an over on that pitch was never going to be a problem, but we just kept losing wickets. Whenever we started to have a partnership going, we lost wickets. You can't do that in any form of the game.”
The Irishman refused to blame the pitch, the toss or the fiercely partisan crowd for the defeat. “Credit goes to the Bangladeshis for the way they came out and defended that total. We lost the game through soft dismissals; we can't afford to do that. The pitch was okay, the odd ball kept low, but it was coming on nicely. We should be able to chase 206