Extraordinary win after batting debacle

"I didn't tell them anything but they all said we were going to win by 20 runs!" answered Shakib when Gavaskar asked him what words of wisdom and inspiration he had offered his boys before they went out to defend those 205 runs.

This was an extremely valuable victory talk about snatching it from the jaws of defeat. As my friend described it, it was steely grit that won the team the day when they were in a very difficult, even near impossible situation. After all, even Ireland were expected to score 206 in 50 overs, wasn't impossible they had said. As it turned out they gave up the ghost in the last ball of the 45th. I shall quote my friend again: "This collective joy on the streets right now beats any new year's celebration!"

The second half was not a game for fans with cardiac problems or those who become hysterical easily. However, when in the beginning, each nail was being hammered into the Irish coffin winning it still looked like wishful thinking. But slowly, the impossible started looking extremely probable. Really, did we millions will our boys to win? Nah! You cannot take the credit for guys on the field. We can only salute them and wish them well.

The Irish had prepared well when they dug one of the deepest holes and then put Shakib and his boys in. The only thing left to do was use their nails and claw their way out and this they did. Or we may imagine Shakib and Co as a very hungry anaconda latching onto a horse, too big a proposition even for an anaconda. But we didn't exactly have to eat the Irish; only squeeze the life out of them. This Team Bangladesh did as fans cheered the wickets and chewed their nails in between (they had done something quite different during Bangladesh's outing with the bat now less said the better; all is forgotten and forgiven assured those fans).

Our players didn't give an inch against the Irish well known for their own grit, determination, courage, thick headedness, you name it, they have everything (even some of the greatest poets, writers and dramatists ever too). But this was not to be Ireland's day and there would be no repeat of last time. Still they can go away thinking that at least the first half was theirs by miles. They really had worked hard in the field reducing Bangladesh to tatters after that incredible start given by Tamim Iqbal. And that boy Dokrell whose spin pinned down our batsmen and had them playing false shots was rewarded with 2 for 23 in his 10. But it was in batting that they floundered. An extremely resolute and resourceful opponent vanquished them in the end. Perhaps they will have better luck next time.

What had gone wrong with our match against India? Realistically, we were not expected to win (a win would be an upset not a regular state of affairs). As another friend said, they lost it when they let India score 370. This friend is a freedom fighter and these guys know all about fighting, winning and losing (of course with them it was literally a matter of facing annihilation, a far deadlier game if you like). A rampaging Sehwag has consistently terrorised the best attack in the world and we just got caught in one of his cyclones. But supposed we had batted first, or better still, what if we had got Sehwag instead of Tendulkar? Sorry, but that is an equally scary proposition. The batters to come after Sehwag would be just as bad news for us and they would be led by Tendulkar. But all that is done and gone. Today we celebrate.

Meanwhile, the Kenyans have been playing a different kind of game. Just for that they have been the butt of jokes like they need two innings against one or you should dismiss them twice and so on. All past achievements have been forgotten. Poor guys even laugh nervously when their legs are being pulled with, "You won't fly home after one more result like that—you'll take a bus, which will take a short cut through Afghanistan and Iraq, lovely at this time of the year; and all your jewellery will be confiscated and the bowler with the braided dreadlocks will have his skull shaved." It was reported in BBC a couple of days ago that mental patients in Kenya are not sent to the mental hospital—they are locked up in a shack out of sight by their own family members until they give up the ghost. When some Kenyan players were called "crazy" by people around them, they were hushed up by other players. No saying who might hear!

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Ishrat Firdousi is a journalist, writer and a cricket enthusiast.