Bangladesh’s ODI rout of Pakistan shows new breed of Tigers have teeth

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/apr/23/bangladesh-odi-rout-pakistan-tigers

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This time, there was no Misbah-ul-Haq to blame, no #Misbahsfault trending on Twitter. These are changing times for Pakistan cricket but not necessarily better days. Not yet anyway.

Both teams had made quarter-final exits at the World Cup but, while Bangladesh had gone home to a heroes’ welcome, there had been only gloom and cynicism about Pakistan’s return. At that stage, it wouldn’t have been unfair to suggest they couldn’t have thought of better opponents to get back into the groove against than Bangladesh.

To say Pakistan had the wood on Bangladesh would have been a bit like stating the sequoia is a big tree. Since Khaled Mahmud’s all-round heroics at the 1999 World Cup – 27 and three for 31 – had inspired a 62-run win at the County Ground in Northampton, a result many Pakistanis still view with extreme suspicion, Pakistan had won 25 straight ODIs against the country that was once its eastern half. As domination of neighbourhood rivalries went, it made even Real Madrid’s bullying of Atlético in the noughties look mundane.

Bangladesh didn’t just end the jinx, though. They obliterated it. Consider the margins of victory in the three matches – 79 runs, seven wickets and eight wickets. In the second and third games, the batsmen were so comfortable that only leather recliners were missing as they won with 71 and 63 balls remaining.

Wahab Riaz, who had been the pick of the Pakistan bowlers at the World Cup, took four for 125 over the three games, without ever reprising the thrilling spells seen at the Gabba or Adelaide Oval. Junaid Khan, who would have led Pakistan’s World Cup attack but for injury, had figures of three for 181 while going at nearly seven an over. Saeed Ajmal, back in the fold after remedial work on his action, was “rested” for the final game, after being treated with scant respect (one for 123) in the first two.

“Pak grossly overestimated their own attack,” tweeted Osman Samiuddin, Pakistan’s best cricket writer, who recently published The Unquiet Ones, a compelling narrative of the thrills and excesses that have made the country’s cricket team such absorbing viewing for more than six decades. “Vast, vast gulf over two games between two sides. Bang outstanding.”

Pakistan didn’t bat especially badly, though the meltdown in which they lost eight wickets for 47 runs in 10.2 overs in the final game was straight out of the recent collapses manual. Mohammad Hafeez scored only eight in three innings, while Fawad Alam – whose reputation grew exponentially with every World Cup game in which he didn’t play – managed only 18. However, it would be a brave individual that suggested they were keeping out more deserving players.

What Pakistan must not do is panic and go back to the self-destructive ways of the past decade, when each defeat was essentially used as an excuse to recall tried-and-tested underachievers such as Imran Farhat and Shoaib Malik. Azhar Ali’s century in his first series as ODI captain was scant consolation in a 3-0 whitewash but his batting and a sprightly 45 from the 19-year-old Sami Aslam on his debut did suggest the future may not be as bleak as some make out.

As for Bangladesh, the heroes were many. Tamim Iqbal, subject to scathing criticism in recent times after some underwhelming displays, responded with two fluent hundreds and a 64. Mushfiqur Rahim batted at Twenty20 pace for a hundred and half-century, while there were shades of the young Sourav Ganguly in the manner in which Soumya Sarkar dismissed the bowling during his elegant and powerful 110-ball 127.

One of the many architects of this Bangladeshi surge was many thousands of miles away. Between 2003 and 2005, Richard McInnes, an Australian, spent time setting up a high-performance centre and coaching the Under-19s and A sides. Back then, as Bangladesh were being embarrassed by teams such as Kenya and Canada, he told anyone who cared to listen that it wouldn’t always be that way. “Watch for the next generation of kids,” he would say. “They’re not intimidated by anything.”

Those kids are now young men approaching their prime. Shakib Al Hasan is 28. Mushfiqur and Tamim are 26. Rubel Hossain, whose pace destroyed England’s World Cup hopes, is 25. Taskin Ahmed, the other quick capable of jarring bat handles, is only 20. Soumya is 22. After years of being subjected to derisory on-air comments and column inches, Bangladesh’s Tigers are now capable of unnerving the best. For them, the next few years could be halcyon ones.