Bangladesh's Predicament Continues by Arshad Chughtai

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Ground:	Shaheed Chandu Stadium, Bogra, Chittagong Divisional Stadium, Chittagong
Scorecard:	Bangladesh v Sri Lanka, Bangladesh v Sri Lanka, Bangladesh v Sri Lanka, Bangladesh v Sri Lanka, Bangladesh v Sri Lanka
Event:	Sri Lanka in Bangladesh 2005/06

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DateLine: 20th March 2006

 

Bangladesh the babe amongst the test playing nations is yet to come off her age and her predicament continues. Sadly 37 out of 42 tests and 105 out of the 118 ODI's they have lost so far. Still some of their performances in both tests and limited overs cricket are creditable. Incidentally these include their recent victory in the second ODI at home against Srilanka at Shaheed Chandu Stadium, Bogra on February 22, 2006. Below is a brief review of recent One Day Internationals and Test Series played between Bangladesh and Srilanka in Bangaldesh:

 

ODI Series 1 - 2

 

Ist Match - 20 February 2006 at Shaheed Chandu Stadium Bogra

 

Result:- Srilanka won by 5 wickets

 

MF Mahroof (3-30) PDRL Perera (3-23) and CRD Fernando (2-23) first restricted the home team to a low score of 118 all out in 35.5 overs and later the visitors romped home victory by overhauling the target consuming only 24.1 overs. Kumara Sangakkara scored brilliant 50, Skipper DPMD Jayawardene remained 37 not out.

 

2nd Match, 22nd February at Shaheed Chandu Stadium Bogra

 

Result:- Bangladesh won by 4 wickets

 

Bangladesh recorded their historic win, first against Sri Lanka. Putting Sri Lanka into bat they contained the visitors to a relatively low score of 212. Only ST. Jayasuria (96) was the lone fighter for the visitors. Syed Rasel, Mohammad Rafique and Alok Kapali claimed two wickets each while Mashrafe Mortaza, Aftab Ahmed and Nazarul Hossain each picked up one wicket. Bangladesh over took the Sri Lankan total in 47 overs for the loss of 6 wickets to win the encounter by 4 wickets. Mohammad Ashraful (51), Javed Omar (40), Habibul Bashar (33) and Aftab Ahmed (32 Not Out) were the principal scorers.

 

3rd Match: 25 February 2006 at Divisional Stadium Chittagong

 

Result:- Sri Lanka Won by 78 runs

 

Having won the toss and again opting to field Bangladesh were trapped this time as Sri Lanka amassed 309 for 7 wickets in their innings after K.C. Sangakkara scored brilliant 109, DPM Jayawardene (51) and KS Lokuarachchi (69) also usefully chipped in Mohammad Rafique was the pick of Bangladesh's attack with 3 for 61. Despite another fighting half century (64) by Mohammad Ashraful and skipper Habibul Bashar's (30) the home team though succeeded to play the full quota of 50 overs yet failed to achieve the target by 78 runs. Prasad claimed 2 for 29, Lokuarachchi 2 for 52 and Dilshan 2 for 14 while Perera, Jayasuria and Bandare took one wicket each.

 

Test Series 0 - 2

 

1st Test 28th February to 4th March at Chittagong

 

Result:- Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets

 

Mohammad Ashraful's magnificent 136 helped Bangladesh to score a respectable total of 319. Infact they had scored 315 on the first day which by itself was a creditable performance for the young team. Malinga picked up 4 and Muralitharan 3 wickets. In reply Sri Lanka earned a slender 19 runs lead. MF Maharoof (72) KC Sangakkara (69), TM Samraweera (58) and WU Tharanga (42) were the Chief Contributors. Shahadat Hossain bowled exceedingly well to claim 4 for 83. Muttiah Muralitharan returned with figures of 6 for 54 in 19.5 overs as the home team collapsed to relatively a low score of 181. Sri Lanka achieved the target of 163 runs only for the loss of two wickets in 37 overs. M.G. Vandort remained 64 not out and KC Sangakkara scored 46. During the match Muralitharan became the first bowler to claim 1000 wickets in Test and One day cricket combined.

 

2nd Test 8-11 March at 2006 Shaheed Chandu Stadium Bogra

 

Result:- Sri Lanka won by 10 wickets

 

Muttiah Muralitharan became only the second bowler to claim 600 test wickets and the first to claim 50th five wicket haul in an innings during the test match. Bangladesh were shotout for 234 as Muralitharan played havoc with Bangladesh batting claiming 5 for 79. Lefthand Upal Tharanga top scored 165 as Sri Lanka earned a handsome lead of 82 runs and scored 316. Shahadat Hossain again bowled remarkably well to claim 5 for 86. Only Captain Habibul Bashar (73) and Mohammad Rafique (64) offered some resistance to the hostile Srilankan attack and Bangladesh were all out for 201 in the second innings, consuming 56.1 overs. Upal Tharanga (71) and M.G Vandort (40) remained unbeaten as Sri Lanka achieved an emphatic 10 wicket win.

(Article: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only.
Copyright © 2006 smyaserrafique@yahoo.com)