Anxiety had been writ large on Shakib Al Hasan's face the day before and his body language on Friday was hardly any different. After Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes provided the prerequisite 50-plus partnership and that too in a dominating manner, it was essential for the captain to guide the innings. But the most assured member of the side felt trapped by uncertainty, when all that was required was a calm knock to stamp the home team's authority in a crucial World Cup game.
But it was the overwhelming desire to hog the strike against a less pacy attack, overconfidence in their ability to pick out a single from the hand of a close mid-off fielder (twice) and the unashamed lack of responsibility that had the Tigers mobbed by disciplined visitors who gave a fine account of their professionalism, that too at the highest stage.
What the Tigers displayed was a terrible case of impudence. Whether it was due to the ranking of the opposition or their slow rise as a team in the past year or so is up for debate but the major concern should be the Bangladesh cricket team's inability to be humble in dire situations. The doubt over selection of the final eleven even on the morning of the game added to their woes but even a blazing start of 50 in 5.4 overs couldn't shake off the nerves.
Ireland weren't special with their skills, neither were they extraordinary with the ball in hand. Boyd Rankin's first two overs were belted far and wide and the wily Trent Johnston seemed to have lost his length quite early. But as most professional units do, they had a Plan B and the minute Niall O'Brien stepped up to the stumps, silly cricket followed as if on cue. Imrul, who blasted the Indian pacemen for a while in the opening game, began in the same vein but the left-hander's split second carelessness cost the team dear. Tamim immediately slowed down, in fact not hitting any more boundaries as Junaed Siddiqui joined Imrul in the 'walk of fools'. The Rajshahi left-hander called Tamim out of the crease, hared down the wicket and had he dived, Ed Joyce's pinpoint throw would not have mattered but Junaed didn't dive, probably he never does.
Shakib gave an account of rare clumsiness, slamming his bat on his pads whenever he found a fielder in his 20-ball 16. Two balls after he was dropped by Porterfield, Shakib popped it straight back to Andre Botha, unsure of the length and blinded by the hunger to feed himself on the fiesta of short and wide bowling by the Irish pacemen.
A boundary-less ten overs followed and while it seemed the 61-run fifth wicket stand between Mushfiqur Rahim and Rokibul Hasan could resurrect the Tigers, immediately came two senseless sweep shots; one of which could become part of Bangladesh cricket's folklore. Mushfiqur Rahim bumped a turning ball down the throat of short fine leg, a dismissal only he could explain to coach Jamie Siddons. Mohammad Ashraful, him of the inconsistence fame, dinked a similar George Dockrell delivery down the same fielder's throat (Andrew White).
The result of the game becomes redundant after such a poor display. In fact, when you will watch the highlights of this game a few days, or even a few years from now, you will just change the channel and want to steer clear of the debacle.
But these batsmen can't afford to do that and probably if they fail to relive these moments of sheer negligence and learn from them, it will be another major folly.
