Why we always make BD look like a good team?

[Domaink]

I have observed that we always make matches with BD quite close. We have lost to them a few times and even the wins have many times been close ones. Do we just drop our guard and take it easy? Or do the Bangladeshies really know us that well?

[THX_1138]

wait till we bat... they will look quite the mediocre side that they are...

its a flat pitch and with a grand total of 7 spectators and a virtually confirmed seat in the finals; it is quite difficult to be invigorated and motivated.

[nospam]

India vs Bangladesh 18 matches 16 won 2 lost 89% win ratio bhai khali 2 times hare hain.

[marirs_mania]

Gambhir is awfully important in this chase. He's a master at milking weak bowling. If BD can get him out early, then they will really feel they're in with a decent chance.

[Cricketics]

Quote by marirs_mania

Gambhir is awfully important in this chase. He's a master at milking weak bowling. If BD can get him out early, then they will really feel they're in with a decent chance.

out batsmans would be under pressure today. gambhir too and all others. specially uthappa, who's coming in after a long time but yaa gambhir is imporant for us today

[theguyinallblue]

i don't think we took Bangladesh easy in this match...

we have few rookies who would want to impress the board with their performance..and would give more than 100% ..

we simply are not focusing on our fielding..absolutely no intensity on the field.. don't know if they have become complacent about their places in the team..or the heat and humidity is taking a toll ...

our reply in this innings will answer many things..

[arkay]

BD certainly have played well so far. They have shown a lot of intensity on the field and stretching the score of 283 even further.

[theguyinallblue]

their fielding is definitely superior than what we showed in the field today...

and that extra bit of self belief that they have a chance to win this match...has put springs on their feet..

so far so good...

[fineleg]

Uthappa - Can we finally kick this useless FTB (well he is not even FTB anymore) out of the squad...useless of useless cricketer along with Dinesh Karthik

[laaloo]

^^karthik is not useless

[fineleg]

Quote by njkiller07

^^karthik is not useless

in ODIs, he is. In Tests, he sometimes manages.

[flamy]

lol, I knew Uthappa would be an epic fail. I bet he wont reach double figures and won some good shith.

[fineleg]

I really wish selectors and MSD wake up to the fact that Robin Uthappa should not be let near the Indian squad. What a waste of space that can go to Badrinath, Dhawan et.al.

[flamy]

Quote by Domaink

Why we always make BD look like a good team?

We is phasing out Pakistan, Inshallah!

[THX_1138]

I think my post has been vindicated by India's performance. Further ammunition for my hypothesis that we are fickle in our support of a team that is virtually invincible at the moment, or atleast invincible w.r.t. the current opposition we are engaging.

india being foster-father of bangladesh its well-being falls in our lap hence this generosity..

[flamy]

Quote by THX_1138

I think my post has been vindicated by India's performance. Further ammunition for my hypothesis that we are fickle in our support of a team that is virtually invincible at the moment, or atleast invincible w.r.t. the current opposition we are engaging.

Hence the reason I'm absent or very less present in the match threads. Too much negativity. It's almost like people are afraid of success. Glad the team doesn't think that way.

[Gambit]

BD had the makings of a team, that could have been the best in their short history, right after the 2007 world cup but it sort of fell apart for them once again. They haven't defeated decent opposition after the World Cup and have just gone on to lose game after game. Yesterday was a golden opportunity for them to register a win over a top team since the World Cup but their pathetic fielding ensured that wasn't to be.

[zubinpepsi]

Sid explains the asnwer for the qn in the trhead title..



Bangladesh v India, Super Four, Asia Cup, Karachi

Bangladesh stuck in 'what-if' phase

Sidharth Monga in Karachi

June 28, 2008


Alok Kapali's combined flair with sensible batting to conjure a special knock © AFP


In a history of Bangladesh's glorious "what ifs" (read: Fatullah, Multan), the Mirpur ODI, where they let India off the hook after having them at 144 for 5 chasing 251, is one of the less documented ones. Bangladesh were at the best of their cricketing form, India at their worst in recent times. A few less-than-prudent captaincy moves and poor fielding lost them a match that they dominated for 80% of the duration. Bangladesh have only gone downhill since, and India have not looked back. The sense of "what if" still haunts from the Mirpur match.

Thirteen months later, in another meeting with India, Alok Kapali was their inspiration. Kapali is one in the long list of wasted, but not as celebrated as Mohammad Ashraful or Aftab Ahmed, talents that Bangladesh have had in the last decade. In 2002-03, when West Indies toured Bangladesh, with Sir Viv Richards in attendance, Kapali had scored 89 not out with the tail in the Dhaka ODI. Richards was so impressed he went and patted Kapali's back after the game. He also scored an 85 so impressive that he was adjudged the Man of the Match in the Chittagong Test though Bangladesh lost. And then unimpressive performances followed, and he went out of the reckoning.

Out of reckoning he was when Aftab Ahmed broke his finger while fielding at a practice session just before the Kitply Cup. Just like that he was recalled, and just like that he found himself in the middle today when Bangladesh were threatening to waste a good start. Just like that he showed what Richards might have seen six years ago. He batted with the sort of flair - especially in the final overs - that might put Ashraful to shame, but he also batted with a lot of sense. When he slogged, he slogged to the vacant midwicket region. When he played proper shots he inspired awe. The pull on one leg off RP Singh, which took him to 97, was reminiscent of both Gordon Greenidge and Kapil Dev at once. He paced the innings superbly: his second 50 came off 21 balls, and out of the 97 that Bangladesh scored in the last 10 overs, he scored 72.

There was a sense of nervous energy to Bangladesh when they came out to field. Three, four, at times five, bodies would converge on every ball that was played short to stop singles. Diving saves were made, and despite a few overthrows the pressure was maintained. But it will remain a shame that all Bangladesh managed to do was add Karachi to their list of "what ifs". What if Farhad Reza had caught Gautam Gambhir when he had got 56 runs, and India's score was 97 for 2? What if Mahmudullah completed what would have been a spectacular catch running backwards when Suresh Raina was 16, and India 104 for 2?

The "what if" becomes even more poignant given that the one place the Bangladeshi cricketers are desperate to play in is India. But a Bangladesh tour is just not commercially feasible for the BCCI. So, though Bangladesh have toured every other Test-playing nation - they will be going to Australia for ODIs this year and Tests the next, and also have full tours to the West Indies and South Africa lined up, each one their second tour to those countries - they've yet to play at the venues that get them really excited: a Test at the Eden Gardens or an ODI in Guwahati.

As an observer pointed out, Bangladesh will have to force India to change the state of affairs. And that will happen if they can beat India more often. And that could be one of the reasons why Bangladesh, so hopeless against meaningful opposition over the last year - they haven't beaten one for a year now - suddenly came up with an inspirational show on Saturday for about 70 overs. That could be one of the reasons why India are the only Test-playing nation they have beaten twice in ODIs. That could be one of the reasons why the last time they scored close to 250 in a live ODI was against India, more than a year ago in Mirpur.

The ICC's Future Tours Programme by the end of which every Test-playing team should have toured each other twice, ends in 2012, and regardless of how well or badly Bangladesh are playing, India will have to invite them twice in the next three years. The BCB, for its part, hasn't really pushed for a tour either. Perhaps India touring Bangladesh is much more advantageous, commercially, for them than vice versa. "We have been playing Test cricket for the last eight years, but haven't toured India," Ashraful, Bangladesh's captain, said. "I think this is very bad for us. I think if we go there and play, it will improve our cricket. It all depends on the boards, though."

It depends on the players too - and on Saturday they did their bit.

Sidharth Monga is a staff writer at Cricinfo