The feat of the "Lowly"

Congratulations to the Bangladesh cricket team for recording their first one-day series win over a test-playing nation by winning 2-0 against West Indies (WI) with one match to go and previously clinching the Test series (2-0). The boys really played well to prove that they are becoming a force to consider.

Surely Shakib's captaincy and performance are proving beneficial for Bangladesh. Bangladesh can now turn back and win. According to the current ICC rank Shakib is the no. 1 allrounder in ODI and the no. 4 allrounder in Test Championship.

But this tour was controversial before any ball was bowled. The West Indies Players Association withdrew their players from the series to pressurize the West Indies Cricket Board to settle their outstanding contract issues. The board took on these players by naming another squad with less experienced players including players from the A team.

I have seen that many are seeing this in the angle that Bangladesh is winning because WI has fielded their B team. I should remind them that Bangladesh also was in this position last year when 13 players signed for Indian Premier League and was handed a 10 year ban by the board. Included in the lists are veterans Mohammad Rafique and Habibul Bashar and indispensable players like Aftab Ahmed, Alok Kapali, Shahriar Nafees, Farhad Reza and Dhiman Ghosh. Considering the recent Bangladesh team at least 4-5 from them can be easily be included to form the best Bangladesh team. So Bangladesh is also playing in this series with reduced strength and with some less experienced players.

The West Indies media is trying to downplay the recent feats of Bangladesh. The headline of The Jamaican Observer reads "The RECORD low! Windies cede ODI series to lowly Bangladesh".

So to them Bangladesh is still the "lowly". And they undermine the feats of Bangladesh of chasing 274 runs in a fast pitch with fearsome WI bowlers. If Bangladesh could produce a convincing performance with some less experienced players why the WI could not do it?

If they try to say that these WI players are not quality players then we can argue that a legendary team like West Indies should have enough quality players waiting to be included in the national side. If they can't field enough performing players like Bangladesh did when they lost their star players to IPL, who should be termed "lowly"?

(Image courtesy BDNews24.com)