Hopes turn to ashes

Mahmudul Hasan Joy walking back to the dressing room dejected after losing his wicket on SundayAFP

The Bangladesh team rolled back the clock on Monday morning. After fighting tooth and nail in the first four days, the Bangladesh batting order collapsed like a deck of cards in the morning session of Day 5. In just 55 minutes, the tourists lost seven wickets and were bundled out for just 53, reminiscent of their earlier tours to South Africa, and suffered a comprehensive 220-run defeat in Durban.

Bangladesh losing wickets in clusters and getting rolled over cheaply in away Tests is nothing new. In fact, this was the ninth time they got bundled out for below 100 in overseas Tests. But the fact that it was two South African spinners who bamboozled the Bangladeshi batters, sets this defeat apart from past humiliations.

The record books will register this match as Bangladesh’s seventh defeat in as many Tests in South Africa and the margin of defeat would make it seem like a fairly one-sided contest. But in reality, the Tigers had momentum on their side and had a slim chance of winning the match till the final session of Day 4.

Losing three wickets in six overs on the penultimate day dented those chances and on Monday, Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer took the remaining seven wickets in just 13 overs. The other South African bowlers didn’t even get a ball in the second innings.

After a defeat, every team naturally introspects. In the first Test at the Kingsmead Stadium in Durban, Bangladesh made some tactical errors. The standard of officiating also left a sour taste in the mouths of the Bangladesh team and their fans.

Prothom Alo (English) takes a look at where exactly Bangladesh went wrong and how a Test that was looking so promising ended in such bitter disappointment for the Tigers.

Yasir Ali gets bowled on Day 5.
AFP

Error in team selection

The wicket at the Kingsmead Stadium in Durban is not like the typical South African pitches. The wicket offers faster bowlers the extra bounce you expect to see in South Africa, but on Day 4 and 5, it also gives assistance to the slower bowlers.

South Africa were well aware of the wicket’s nature and picked two spinners in their playing XI, Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer.

Bangladesh, however, had just one frontline spinner in Mehidy Hasan Miraz. Bangladesh had the experienced left-arm spinner Taijul Islam in the squad but the management didn’t include him in the XI.

The Protea spin duo claimed 14 wickets in the match and Keshav won the player of the match award with his seven-wicket haul in the second innings. Miraz, on the other hand, bowled 75 overs in the match and had six wickets to show for his efforts.

Bangladesh felt the absence of a second spinner and in an attempt to make up for it, skipper Mominul Haque and Najmul Hossain Shanto rolled their arms over, but they couldn’t exert any meaningful support to Miraz.

Shoddy umpiring

The memories of Indian players shouting at the stump mic and accusing Super Sport, the broadcaster of the South Africa-India Test series, of tampering with the Hawkeye technology is still quite fresh in the minds of the cricket fraternity.

That incident took place during the third and final Test between the teams in January earlier this year. The reaction of the Indian players was criticised and was deemed overblown by most. But after the Durban Test, the Bangladeshi players also can definitely relate to the frustration felt by their Indian counterparts.

South African umpires Marais Erasmus and Adrian Holdstock officiated in the match. A total of seven on-field decisions got overturned. Both teams had 10 unsuccessful reviews, of which four decisions remained unchanged due to being ‘Umpire’s call’. Out of those four Umpire’s calls, three went against Bangladesh.

Even tail-ender Ebadot Hossain wasn't spared from sledging.
AFP

The Bangladesh team was also frustrated when the umpires seemingly allowed the host fielders to hurl abuse at them. Tamim Iqbal, who missed out from the Test due to a stomachache, even confronted the on-field umpires about it after the end of the fourth day’s play.

Shakib Al Hasan, who is not with the team owing to a family emergency, couldn’t stay quiet after seeing these horrendous decisions and sent out a tweet on Day 4 calling the ICC (International Cricket Council) to revert to the rule of appointing neutral umpires in Test matches.

Experienced middle-order batters failing to score

Bangladesh’s two most experienced batsmen in the first Test were skipper Mominul Haque and Mushfiqur Rahim. In the absence of veteran cricketers like Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan in the batting line-up, it was imperative for the Tigers to have at least one of them fire in Durban.

But Mushfiq and Mominul had their worst outings in recent memory, as they collectively made nine runs in four innings in the first Test. Mominul made 0 and two and while Mushfiq scored nine and 0 in their respective innings.

Keegan Peterson took a good catch to dismiss Mominul in the first innings but in the following innings the left-hander seemingly allowed the ball to hit his pad and got out LBW.

Mushfiq got caught down the leg-side in the first innings and then got trapped LBW on Monday morning in the second innings.

No fifth bowler

Bangladesh dearly felt the absence of Shakib Al Hasan in the first Test. Without Shakib, Bangladesh only had four bowling options in the match –Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain, Khaled Ahmed and Mehidy Hasan Miraz.

Bangladesh managed to win the Test in Mount Maunganui against New Zealand with four frontline bowlers. But unlike that Test in New Zealand, this match took place in sunny and humid conditions in Durban.

The three touring pacers found it difficult to bowl long spells under the beating sun. Situation worsened when Taskin hurt his shoulder and Bangladesh were practically down to three bowlers. The right-arm pacers still came back and bowled a few overs in the second innings.

Bangladesh had the option of playing Mehidy as an all-rounder and picking Taijul Islam in place of Yasir Ali. But they chose to strengthen the batting, which didn’t really pay off in the end.

Keshav Maharaj's wild celebration after claiming one of his seven wickets in the second innings.
AFP

Toss 

Bangladesh made the biggest mistake of the match before the game even began.

Mominul Haque won the coin toss for Bangladesh. The past record shows that the ball would take turn on the fourth and fifth day and batting in the fourth innings would be a challenge.

But Mominul opted to bowl first. Many were surprised by his decision but everyone understood the thinking behind it.

Bangladesh team head coach Russell Domingo spelled it out in the press conference after the first day’s play, saying that they were unsure about how difficult the pitch would be in the morning session of Day 1. Bangladesh didn’t want to lose the match in the 1st session by getting bundled out for an embarrassing total in the first innings.

In hindsight, Bangladesh’s decision to bowl first only delayed the embarrassment as eventually they got bundled out for an embarrassing total in the second innings and lost the Test by an embarrassing margin.