If body language is an indication of how a team approaching a game, Bangladesh must be appalled seeing what they have demonstrated on the first two days of the first Test against Zimbabwe. On the opening day fielders casually conceded several boundaries, misjudged few catches and dropped few others to allow Zimbabwe to reach to a total that they hardly deserved. What followed next was more calamitous as they suffered three run outs, for which they can only blame themselves. Two of these three run outs were boyish to say the least denying the team a chance to post a more imposing total than their first innings of 254 runs.
‘My personal opinion is that none of the run outs were acceptable, especially at this level of cricket,’ said batsman Mahmudullah. ‘A bit of it is due to the casual approach. If we were a bit more cautious then these mistakes would not have happened.’
Mahmudullah was at the crease during two of these run outs and is directly responsible for at least one, which saw Bangladesh slump to 114-4 despite a decent start to their innings.
He, however, could do little about the first run out of the day as Mominul Haque, his partner in 63-run third wicket stand, ran himself out.
Mominul attempted a single and reached the pitch at the non-striking end seemingly without any trouble.
But he did not care to place his bat when Sikandar Raza made a direct hit to the stumps to end his innings at 53.
It could not be known if Mominul was scolded on his return to the dressing room for the run out or he was congratulated for scoring another fifty, but one thing is sure whatever he was told it did not bring any consolation for him.
Mahmudullah took the blame on himself for the run out of Sakib, who was undone by a brilliant piece of fielding of Tendai Chatara at the non-striking end after he was sent back by his partner.
‘It was totally my fault, I should not have made this call,’ said a remorseful Mahmudullah.
It seemed the other batsmen took hardly any lesson.
Shahadat Hossain is in and around the national team for almost a decade having made his debut in 2005, but his deeds indicated that he was yet to learn even the basic rules.
He was strolling at the crease after he fended off a Panyangara delivery when he saw forward short-led Craig Ervine to collect the ball and throw it to the stumps.
Yet he placed his bat just on the line to see himself run out.
His swing-and-miss batting often came handy for Bangladesh but not this time as Zimbabwe made an inroad to the late order to keep their lead limited to just 14 runs.
-With New Age input
