If anyone was hibernating for the past week and a half and just woke up yesterday night, they might be excused for thinking that the Bangladesh cricket team somehow cheated Armageddon. Before the five-ODI series against the West Indies started, all opinion surrounding the series pointed to a batting domination by the West Indies. It was only natural to think that about the tourists, because they had won the ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka as recently as October, and the world was in thrall of their big-hitting prowess. 300-plus totals, utter domination of Bangladesh's bowlers was on the cards.
But at the end of West Indies' innings in the fifth ODI at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, West Indies had scored only 217 all out. This followed scores of 199, 132, 228 for six and 211 for nine in the first four ODIs -- far removed from pre-series forecasts. But when the dust settles on the series, people will look back on this and the Asia Cup in March as two series where the Tigers became a team in the true meaning of the word, and that is most apparent in the bowling. In the Asia Cup the Tigers regularly restrained the strong batting line-ups of Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan for below-par totals.
This series is merely a continuation of that, and more heartening because the team overcame two major hurdles -- the absence of their talismanic allrounder Shakib Al Hasan (the man of the tournament in the Asia Cup) and the new ODI regulations dictating that only four fielders could be outside the inner circle at any time. The latter was thought to be especially disadvantageous to the Bangladesh spinners, but discipline and mental steel brought them through with flying colours.
What began in Khulna with the dismissal of West Indies for 199 became a recurrent trend in the series, even in the two matches that Bangladesh lost. To attribute their bowling success to spinning pitches would be to miss the bigger picture and also do a grave disservice to Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, the Tigers' lion-hearted fast bowler whose contributions in the series is much greater than his numbers suggest.
Near the start of the series, both Bangladesh's interim coach Shane Jurgensen and Mashrafe himself talked about the importance of starting well. In that regard thoughts were certainly translated into action as the opposition's most feared batsman, opener Chris Gayle, was made to endure a torrid series, scoring just 72 runs at an average of 14.4 -- his third-worst returns in a five-ODI series. Mashrafe got the big Jamaican three out of the four times he bowled at him. It was not one-way traffic in any of the innings -- Gayle had gotten after Mashrafe each time, but the Narail express struck back each time with the big wicket.
The secret, in opposition captain Darren Sammy's words after the second ODI in Khulna, was that Bangladesh's bowlers were not put off their lines by an assault. Gayle was tied up outside the off stump, tried to break free and even succeeded momentarily, but the balls he was trying to hit were good ones bowled to fields set for that mode of attack. Mashrafe did the job in the first four matches, and it is good news for Bangladesh that when he missed out with injury yesterday Shafiul Islam continued the good work, getting Gayle after tying him down in similar fashion.
Bangladesh's bowling success was down to them getting good starts with the ball in every match. The spinners were the difference as each innings wore on. Shohag Gazi has been a revelation on this tour, and opened the bowling effectively in all matches except the first. The drying up of runs at the start softened the batting up for Bangladesh's spin arsenal. It worked every time -- even when Marlon Samuels scored a century in the third game and Pollard hit 85 yesterday, the rest of the batsmen were tied up in knots by the spinners.
This series showed that Bangladesh's true strength lies in their bowling, and the source of that strength is the team ethic that found clear expression in the Asia Cup. It is that source which will give supporters most heart, because after a long wait the team are no longer dependent on individuals.
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