The Tigers Are Tamed
At the end of the 3rd day at Chittagong, the tigers have been tamed, even their ardent supporters quieted, and 170 million people are mercifully waiting for a massive regulation defeat against the resurgent Pakistani cricketers who have not played in their home country for eons!
In an abject display of poor test cricket batting Bangladesh were all out for 135 runs on the first day. Only the two babies of the team, Nazimuddin and Nasir showed any respectability by scoring 31 and 41 respectively. Most batsmen gifted their wickets on a placid pitch. None of the batsmen showed any determination to stay on the crease.
Pakistan in response hammered them by scoring 594 for 5 declared. Younis scored a double century without getting out. Md Hafeez and Asad Shafiq scored centuries as well. Pakistan was playing as if to teach Bangladesh how test cricket is played, how to stay in the crease, and when you do, run follows. The hosts, however, were not in the mood to learn anything, their batsmen continued to demonstrate poor skills and lack of patience for the second time, in just three days. Every time Bangladeshis fail they make statements such as—we made mistakes, hopefully we will learn from our mistakes—the hope always dries out, they never learn!
Bangladesh’s only world class batsman Tamim Iqbal showed again why he badly needs a hiatus. For the 2nd time in the same match, he imploded like a madman, escaping twice, missing once driving off Cheema, and then playing against the spin of his nemesis Mohammad Hafeez. Given two lives most batsmen worthy of their name would go to score a century, not Tamim, he was clean bowled by Hafeez with a docile offbreak that he bizarrely chose to leave, collecting only 15.
Then the comeback boy Md. Ashraful duly exited for a duck, adding to his 1st innings score of 1. He was absolutely clueless against a Rehman delivery that was going towards leg before turning over and taking edge of Ashraful’s bat to the slips. Nasir Hossain, the new golden boy who played a heroic innings in the second ODI, displayed typical Bangladeshi temper by grafting his wicket. He went to pull a Cheema bouncer, that he should have left instead, and Hafeez took a great catch to send him back.
Test cricket batting is all about staying in the wicket, but Bangladeshi players do not have patience and cool to play at the international level. Matches after matches they make the same mistakes, and they never learn. They are extremely vulnerable to provocations and all of team think that they can hit out of any bad situations. They do not realize that they can wear out bowlers with simple pushes and nudges, ticking the score with 1’s and 2s, and when the bowlers get frustrated they deliver loose deliveries that even kids can hit out the ground with eyes closed.
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