Jan 19 2009
A Match Worth Watching
Hmm..this was one such match which would certainly evoke the interest of most of the cricket fans all over the world. For, this was one such match wherein two minnow teams out there battle it out with fire. Yes, the match that I am talking about is the one day match between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, which was one of the biggest thrillers of all times one can say. However, this might not be the case with people who do not like to watch a cricket match between two minnows whatever. For these guys, all that can be said is “you guys have missed out on a super thriller”.
This match according to me was just below the best ODI in the history of cricket ie the way South Africa successfully chased down 434 against Australia. If, chasing huge totals is something marvellous, so is defending small totals like Bangladesh almost did it today. And defending a small total is far tougher compared to chasing huge totals whatsoever. In today’s cricket, chasing a total of 300+ is a common gesture, which is not the case when it comes to defending small totals of just above 100. Neither was this he case even if one daunts back to history. And if a team can afford to do it, the team does need a lot of applause for the same.
Now a days, believe it or not, matches involving minnows is found to be far more interesting than the ones that involve stronger teams. In the past two years or so, there have been more than 10 instances wherein the team batting second has successfully chased down totals of 300+. But, even a look at the entire history of cricket, one can hardly come across even five instances where a team has defended a total of just 100+. One instance that I can remember is India’s 38 run victory against Pakistan in 1985, where India successfully defended a total of 125 at Sharjah . The other instance was the match between India & Windies which ended in a tie, after Windies made 126 at Perth .
It is really worth the praise for both the teams, with Bangladesh trying to win the match despite getting out for low score of 124, and Zimbabwe for getting the Bangladeshis out for 124 and then ending up winners. Both the teams’ inningslasted well upto late 50 overs.This shows the way the batsmen had to struggle for every run. A funny aspect being that both the teams at the end of the match finished with run rates of 2.57. Isn’t this really superb? This is for all those guys who would have thought that there would be a boring encounter on the cards for a week as long as the Bangladesh-Zimbabwe match goes on. After watching this match,it is sure that they should re-think of their opinion about the series. Gr8 Going!!!
