Rain poured cold water on the excitement of tri-nation T20 final or it simply saved the blushes of Bangladesh? These are the two different sides of the story of rain-ruined T20 final between Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Now it’s up to you which side you would believe or carry in your mind. The way Afghanistan showed their strength in the just-concluded cricket series here on the ground of Bangladesh, it only proved that they were always on the right track to becoming a formidable force in the international arena.
Just like any other sports, cricket is also a result-oriented game. How good a team is in cricket, decided by how many matches you have won till date. Winning spree, team’s progress, acclimatization with the condition, fearless attitude, and the process of development are also some yardsticks to judge the maturity of a team.
In all those fields, Afghanistan clearly situated ahead of Bangladesh. They showed their progress in this series in all departments, unlike Bangladesh. Even before the start of the series, Bangladesh were unsure which way they would walk to keep Afghanistan quiet.
Actually, they had many ideas to tackle Afghans, but there was no conviction about the outcome of those plans. Fear of failure occupied their mind from the very beginning, without allowing them to work on the winning formula. No wonder, this fear shattered the team’s confidence whereas they needed the confidence most.
In Chattogram Test, from day one Bangladesh bogged down to this fear and could never wipe out the menace! In the last session of last day, Bangladesh collapsed within 50 minutes to hand Afghanistan a massive win.
Afghanistan won the match dramatically but surely. The scorecard will show Bangladesh won it by 224 runs. But in the hindsight, it will reflect just one reason for the debacle, fear! After the lost the one-off Test series Bangladesh got another hammering on their back at the beginning of tri-nation T20 series only for young Afif Hossain to spare the team from an embarrassment as he snatched victory from the jaw of defeat with his maiden half-century.
In the very next match, Bangladesh was hammered again by Afghanistan at the Sher-e-Bangla cricket stadium. Afghanistan won the match by 25 runs to highlight their supremacy over Bangladesh once again.
The second phase of the tournament in Chattogram comforted Bangladesh with two wins that ensured their qualification in the final and also ended the losing streak against Afghanistan but none of those victories came in a very convincing manner.
Afghanistan lost both matches there but due to the susceptibility that Bangladesh showed it took them always in their comfort zone before the final. Bangladesh had a point to prove them in the final but rain had the final say in a tournament that no team dominated solely.
With rain forcing two teams to share the trophy it actually honored by Afghanistan. They came to Bangladesh to fight for two trophies and returned with both. Bangladesh got only a slice. The conclusion is clear - Afghanistan is advancing with time and sadly Bangladesh is going backwards.