da roleta： As it cannot get much worse, things might be looking up for Bangladeshahead of the second ODI against Pakistan in Faisalabad
Osman Samiuddin in Faisalabad 10-Apr-2008
Mohammad Ashraful: “Our batting failed in Lahore. The power blackouts didn’t helpbut we played rash shots as well” © AFP
As it cannot get much worse, things might be looking up for Bangladeshahead of the second ODI against Pakistan in Faisalabad. They were roundlytrounced in Lahore, their bowling was toothless after the first 20 overs andtheir batting never anything other than rash. Little surprise then thatJamie Siddons, Bangladesh’s stoic coach, called the 152-run loss “a littleembarrassing.”Embarrassing maybe, but not the end of the world, or the series as ithappens. “One slip-up doesn’t make the series,” Siddons reasoned. “Weaccept that Pakistan are a better side than us. They have to play badlyand we have to play really well for us to win.”It was agreed – by captain, coach and opposing captain – that Bangladeshwere at least one fast bowler short at Gaddafi Stadium. And with ShahadatHossein and Syed Rasel fit and in the squad, the decision was doublyperplexing, explained at the time as the necessary sacrifice ofspecialists to the multi-skilled.Yet whether or not they rectify that imbalance appears uncertain. ThoughMohammad Ashraful again said he felt a fast bowler short, Siddons wasn’t soemphatic about whether another would come in. “If we had a superstar fastbowler with us who we thought was better than what we had out there thensure. We didn’t bank on the pitch spinning so much later and seam earlyon. We missed one bowler but our fifth bowling options gave away 106 runsand that is too many.”One thing Ashraful won’t want a repeat of is the power fiasco that saw thefloodlights go out three times – for nearly an hour in total – which he said affected his batsmen’s concentration adversely. The first time was a complete blackout and subsequently one tower failed. The power crisis has affected the entire country, though local authorities were confident the back-up was in place at the Iqbal Stadium to avoid a similar situation.”The lights going out changed our batting game-plans,” Siddons said. Wewere chasing 6.5 an over before it and suddenly after we were chasing 9.5or something.”But natural stroke-players that they are, Bangladesh won’t mind so much theshort boundaries and an absolutely bone-dry, rock-hard surface. “Ourbatting failed in Lahore,” Ashraful said. “The power blackouts didn’t helpbut we played rash shots as well. We have team rules which we didn’t stickto then. If we do, then we should do well.”Pakistan is a very good team but we didn’t play well the other night. Wehope to do better tomorrow.” As does everyone in Faisalabad.