After Loss to Pakistan and Exit, Bangladesh Cites Liton’s Absence as Excuse

Sports Desk

Bangladesh’s Asia Cup campaign came to a painful end yesterday. They set out to chase down a relatively easy target of 136 against Pakistan to keep their hopes of reaching the final alive. Instead, the Tigers collapsed in a hurried, nervous performance that exposed deep-seated problems in their planning and temperament.

In the post-match press conference, head coach Phil Simmons kept coming back to one topic: the absence of captain Liton Das. As he was leaving the room, he was asked if everything was really messed up just because of Liton’s absence? Simmons admitted with a dry smile, “Yes, when a classic player like him is suddenly unavailable, it makes things difficult.”

There was no structure to this chase. Nervousness was evident from the very first over and Parvez Hossain Emon was dismissed—an unforced error on his part. Early in the fifth over, as Pakistan were bowling a third consecutive over to Shaheen Shah Afridi in search of a ball, Towhid Hridoy was almost run out due to a misunderstanding between Saif Hasan and Hridoy. Hridoy was dismissed on the very next ball—a catch after playing a huge shot that ignored game awareness.

That moment was the beginning of the downfall. The Bangladesh team actually needed to get through Shaheen’s third over with minimal hassle.

Saif Hasan, the team’s best performer in this Asia Cup, had already made his intentions clear. He batted with the mature temperament of a seasoned campaigner, hitting a six and a four off Haris Rouf to relieve the pressure. But Rouf dismissed him in the very next over. Unlike the others, his dismissal was not at all reckless—he played with a soft hand, but misjudged the pace and gave the catch to the infielder. From then on, the Bangladesh team became uneasy.

This 11-run defeat may have suggested a close fight, but the truth is that they were out of the match long before a few late boundaries from Rishad Hossain reduced the gap.

The batting order itself was a subject of observation. Opener Tanjid Hasan Tamim was dropped and bottom-order batter Nurul Hasan Sohan was brought in. Sohan’s innings were as shaky as ever, marked by instability and lack of control.

More confusing was Shadab Mahedi’s promotion to number four—even though he averages just 11 in ODIs. On the other hand, stand-in captain Zakir Ali Anik bats at number seven and never looked like he had the ability to think clearly or execute in the middle. Simmons defended the first move, arguing that it was to counter pace in the Powerplay: “You look at it as number four. I look at it as sending someone who could have dealt with the pacers at that time. We were still in the Powerplay, so if he had gone down to deal with all the spinners, he would have been dealing with more fast bowlers than he could have.”

Yet, the bigger picture points to Liton. In form, he was the backbone of Bangladesh’s batting at number three, starting the tournament with a fifty and setting the tone for the chase against Sri Lanka. But he missed the last two Super Fours with a muscle strain sustained in training. Simmons recalled: “Two matches ago, Bangladesh chased 160 with the same batting order. We are not a team that can easily replace [Tanjid Tamim] and the captain at the same time.”

“We haven’t reached that level yet, although we are trying to get there. But losing our captain, who was in such form, was a big problem for us,” said Simmons.