Bangladeshis, stop whining

In Bangladesh, the idea that they were cheated of a win still runs strong

Commonwealth nations are an unusual lot.

We are willing to accept our national failing when it comes to the great things. Indians and Pakistanis and Bangladeshis will be the first to accept that our societies are poor, illiterate, mostly uncivil and often undemocratic.

However, we draw the line somewhere and that line usually is drawn over cricket. That we might suck at it sometimes is unacceptable. I remember when Sri Lanka became a Test-playing nation and its debut matches were played with India. They were a striking looking team with bowlers like Rumesh Ratnayake and Ashantha de Mel, who were quicker than India's and also had some pretty competent batsmen.

On that first tour 30 years ago, Kapil Dev (if I am not mistaken, his first ball was clouted for a six by Aravinda De Silva) was so infuriated by the umpiring that he pronounced that the Lankans would never win when they played outside their country. He did not have to wait very long to find out he was wrong, of course. But at that moment he was unwilling to accept that his country's mighty team could be undone by a little neighbour.

And so we come to the World Cup. Bangladesh were hammered by India in a totally one-sided quarter-final. This entire tournament the Indian bowling, which has unusually become as good as the batting, has ensured that the opposition is under the cosh for the entire 100 overs, whether fielding or batting. And so it was also in this game. Other than a large patch of overs in the middle of the Indian innings where the run rate dropped but wickets were not lost, India dominated the whole day.

But to read the Bangladeshi papers, there was a conspiracy against their team. “Controversial umpiring greatly mars Bangladesh's hope for semis” ran the headline in the nation's biggest English newspaper, Daily Star.

The paper felt that Rohit Sharma's reprieve when he was 91 and hit a Rubel Hossain full toss “down the throat” of mid-wicket was the match's turning point. The batter went on to add another 46 runs, and in the ultimate scheme of things, this error probably did not mean much, given how much batting India had remaining at that stage.

"When the replay was shown, the error in Ian Gould’s judgment became apparent with repeated viewing as the ball was dipping sharply when the batsman made contact. Such decisions are usually given by the leg-umpire but in this occasion Aleem Dar chose to remain silent, to the mystery of Bangladesh fans."

Others also thought this was a mistake. Former Indian batsman V V S Laxman tweeted: “Bad decision from Gould, was definitely not above the waist. Lucky break for rohit. This can b the difference in getting xtra 20 runs.”

The fact is that umpires make bad decisions. When Bangladesh came to bat, Imrul Kayes was out to the last ball of the first over, caught behind off Umesh Yadav, and the Snickometer showed it, but the umpire did not respond to the appeal. No reference about this in the Bangladeshi papers when they were whining about the umpiring, naturally.

Also the fact is, in this case, it was not Gould's fault, nor was it his call. Dar at square leg had immediately signalled the no-ball (even before the ball had been caught). Now Dar may have been mistaken in believing that the ball was over waist height (it was lower by about a couple of inches), but it was hardly the stuff of conspiracy. However, as I said in my opening paragraph, this is cricket. The Bangladeshis held aloft a banner in the stands which read ICC: Indian Cricket Council.

This formulation came in fact from Ramiz Raja, who tweeted: “Well done @ICC (indian cricket council). u guys were completely sold out!!”

How Raja had arrived at selling out based on this decision is a mystery and he was not the only one. Shoaib Akhtar tweeted: “Poor Bangladesh played well... There was cheating in the match as well. But next time...”

Who had cheated? This was left unsaid. Raja later probably realised he had overdone it (or was more likely overwhelmed by abuse from India's Twitter army) and tweeted “Excellent game, excellent performance! Congratulations Team India for 7 consecutive wins.”

But in Bangladesh, the idea that they were cheated of a win still ran strong. The papers ran many headlines on this aspect including “Bangladesh to appeal against controversial umpiring: ICC” and also "ICC should prosecute for war crimes” which I thought was overdoing it. When I read that particular story it turned out to be the International Criminal Court.

I turned the page, and so should Bangladesh's fans.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22^nd, 2015.

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