Riyad, Mushfiq redeem themselves

It was exactly two years; Mahmudullah Riyad was in the crease and failed to keep his cool to take the team to shore in the last over of the champions trophy against India. Since then, this experience had been a spot of bother in Riyad’s career, but he redeemed himself yesterday with one of his finest T20 innings in Friday’s Nidahas trophy match. Mushfiqur Rahim, the other protagonist of that same India match played another finest innings in the T20 cricketing history in the earlier match against Sri Lanka to chase down a 200-plus target to wash away his failure.

Both of them played their best ever knocks against Sri Lanka to make the hosts outsider of the tournament, commemorating the country’s 70th year of Independence. Thereby they made their second ever T20 final in a tournament involving more than two teams. They also moved into the final of ODI tournaments three times, also involving three teams and duly lost all of the finals. Whether they could beat India to clinch their maiden trophy remains a matter of question but the way Bangladesh made it to the final, by any means, is a praiseworthy effort, specially when the team came off the tournament on the back of two disastrous series in South Africa and at home against Sri Lanka.

The place in the final got sweeter because of the two famous victories against hosts Sri Lanka, with whom, Bangladesh have an issue ever since their former head coach Chandika Hathurusingha joined his native nation. Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh in last January to clinch the tri-nation ODI tournament and subsequently won the Test and T20 series, much to the frustration of the home fans. So, winning two straight matches against Sri Lanka, that too in their home soil, was a pleasing experience for Bangladesh.

There was no revenge talk, but it was indeed a revenge mission. It became sweeter because Bangladesh had to play outstanding cricket twice in an adrenaline-pimping moment to secure the victory.

The architects of these two tensed-victories are Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad. And both of them entered into the final over of the chase against Sri Lankan on the back of a history of not finishing the game well. The reason was the Bengaluru incident when Bangladesh couldn’t score two runs of last three balls despite the seniors like Mushfiqur and Riyad in the crease.

In the final over when Bangladesh needed 11 runs to win, Mushfiqur hit two boundaries in a row in the second and third ball before Mahmudullah gave him strike with a single in the first ball. After hitting the third ball to the boundary fence, Mushfiqur made a premature celebration, knowing that they needed just two in three balls. But unbelievable scene prevailed in Bengalurur. The world saw a most bizarre incident of the cricket history with the two set batsmen Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur skied on the air to be caught out before Mustafizur Rahman was run out in the last ball to give India a dramatic one-run victory.

It was a trauma, which many Bangladesh players believed affected them on-field for at least the next 12 months.

Firstly Mushfiqur got the chance to bury the nightmare when he played 35 ball-72 not out, considered as the best T20 knock by any Bangladeshi batsman to help the side chase a record total. Nine runs were needed in the final over and Mushfiqur, limping due to hamstring problem, made it to effectively quell the agony he tasted two years ago.

Destiny gave Mahmudullah an opportunity in the return-leg match against Sri Lanka, turned out to be virtual semi-final. In an ill-tempered match, which was about to be forfeited, Mahmudullah became hero, flicking Ishuru Udana six over deep square leg. The snake-dance, the recent theme of celebrating the victory, was unfolded in a furious style as a testament of how the victory was needed for Bangladesh and Riyad himself.

"What he did today was unbelievable," Shakib said. "You will get 50 off 30 balls eight out of 10 times in a T20 game unless you are batting against Rashid Khan, Sunil Narine or Lasith Malinga. But it is always hard for us to hit towards the end. We have never been able to hit cleanly in the last five overs so to do it in such a pressure game was incredible.

"He was terrific. Tamim was brilliant too but you cannot take anything away from Mahmudullah in this game. I have never seen a Bangladesh batsman hitting the ball so well in limited-overs cricket."

Riyad, Mushfiq redeem themselves

It was exactly two years; Mahmudullah Riyad was in the crease and failed to keep his cool to take the team to shore in the last over of the champions trophy against India. Since then, this experience had been a spot of bother in Riyads career, but he redeemed himself yesterday with one of his finest T20 innings in Fridays Nidahas trophy match. Mushfiqur Rahim, the other protagonist of that same India match played another finest innings in the T20 cricketing history in the earlier match against Sri Lanka to chase down a 200-plus target to wash away his failure. Both of them played their best ever knocks against Sri Lanka to make the hosts outsider of the tournament, commemorating the countrys 70th year of Independence. Thereby they made their second ever T20 final in a tournament involving more than two teams. They also moved into the final of ODI tournaments three times, also involving three teams and duly lost all of the finals. Whether they could beat India to clinch their maiden trophy remains a matter of question but the way Bangladesh made it to the final, by any means, is a praiseworthy effort, specially when the team came off the tournament on the back of two disastrous series in South Africa and at home against Sri Lanka. The place in the final got sweeter because of the two famous victories against hosts Sri Lanka, with whom, Bangladesh have an issue ever since their former head coach Chandika Hathurusingha joined his native nation. Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh in last January to clinch the tri-nation ODI tournament and subsequently won the Test and T20 series, much to the frustration of the home fans. So, winning two straight matches against Sri Lanka, that too in their home soil, was a pleasing experience for Bangladesh. There was no revenge talk, but it was indeed a revenge mission. It became sweeter because Bangladesh had to play outstanding cricket twice in an adrenaline-pimping moment to secure the victory. The architects of these two tensed-victories are Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad. And both of them entered into the final over of the chase against Sri Lankan on the back of a history of not finishing the game well. The reason was the Bengaluru incident when Bangladesh couldnt score two runs of last three balls despite the seniors like Mushfiqur and Riyad in the crease. In the final over when Bangladesh needed 11 runs to win, Mushfiqur hit two boundaries in a row in the second and third ball before Mahmudullah gave him strike with a single in the first ball. After hitting the third ball to the boundary fence, Mushfiqur made a premature celebration, knowing that they needed just two in three balls. But unbelievable scene prevailed in Bengalurur. The world saw a most bizarre incident of the cricket history with the two set batsmen Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur skied on the air to be caught out before Mustafizur Rahman was run out in the last ball to give India a dramatic one-run victory. It was a trauma, which many Bangladesh players believed affected them on-field for at least the next 12 months. Firstly Mushfiqur got the chance to bury the nightmare when he played 35 ball-72 not out, considered as the best T20 knock by any Bangladeshi batsman to help the side chase a record total. Nine runs were needed in the final over and Mushfiqur, limping due to hamstring problem, made it to effectively quell the agony he tasted two years ago. Destiny gave Mahmudullah an opportunity in the return-leg match against Sri Lanka, turned out to be virtual semi-final. In an ill-tempered match, which was about to be forfeited, Mahmudullah became hero, flicking Ishuru Udana six over deep square leg. The snake-dance, the recent theme of celebrating the victory, was unfolded in a furious style as a testament of how the victory was needed for Bangladesh and Riyad himself. What he did today was unbelievable, Shakib said. You will get 50 off 30 balls eight out of 10 times in a T20 game unless you are batting against Rashid Khan, Sunil Narine or Lasith Malinga. But it is always hard for us to hit towards the end. We have never been able to hit cleanly in the last five overs so to do it in such a pressure game was incredible. He was terrific. Tamim was brilliant too but you cannot take anything away from Mahmudullah in this game. I have never seen a Bangladesh batsman hitting the ball so well in limited-overs cricket.