Bangladesh Overplay Their Hand

GH on the T20 World Cup omnishambles

A week ago in the Under-19 World Cup in Bulawayo, Bangladesh were three for 124 chasing a rain-adjusted 165 against India. It had been a tense match between the increasingly estranged regional rivals, before which the captains had not shaken hands. Now it looked like the plucky underdogs might win a reverberating victory. Instead they lost seven for 22, giving up four of those to India’s seventh bowler.

Endangered species

Cricket matches are not always reliable metaphors for wider concerns, but this match came close. Two weeks ago, after Kolkata Knight Riders ripped up the contract of Mustafizur Rahman, Bangladesh enjoyed quite widespread sympathy even in India. Their attempts to escalate the matter, to indulge in tit-for-tat brinkmanship with the International Cricket Council by demanding that their matches in the T20 World Cup in India be moved to Sri Lanka, have now blown up in their face. Barring an eleventh hour climbdown, this will be a devastating blow to cricketers who were keen to go, and a cricket public excited by their prospects. Bangladesh were part of Group C, alongside England, West Indies, Nepal, and surprise packets Italy, and scheduled to meet West Indies in their first game at Eden Gardens a fortnight hence. It now looks like there’ll be a late call out to Scotland, who can hardly be expected to do themselves justice in the circumstances, and who as a result will weaken the overall competition.