Ravenous Rubel

There has been a lot of debate on social media and elsewhere regarding Liton Das's stumping by Mahendra Singh Dhoni in Friday's Asia Cup final. The decision was very close, as multiple angles of the sequence showed, before the third umpire finally ruled in favour of India. Here is what Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza had to say about this: "It is hard to tell. At one point we felt it was not out. I think the third umpire can say it better. Maybe it will be discussed later."

After an agonising defeat in the final of the Asia Cup against India in UAE on Friday night, the Bangladesh cricket team returned home last night with heads held high.

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and his troops fought till the last ball of the match defending a small total of 222, but ended up as runners-up once again.

It was a mixed bag for the Tigers in terms of performance and there were a lot of incidents on and off the field, making the competition a memorable one.

It started with Tamim Iqbal's return to bat with a finger injury and defending a Suranga Lakmal delivery against Sri Lanka in the opening game where the left-hander left the field early after suffering a blow to his left hand knuckle against the same bowler. Tamim's bravery was praised worldwide.

Mushfiqur Rahim smashed a magnificent hundred with a fractured rib in the same game before scoring 99 against Pakistan while Shakib Al Hasan's departure from the tournament following a finger injury ahead of the Pakistan game made matters more desperate for the Tigers.

Tigers' next assignment will be the upcoming home series against Zimbabwe later this month featuring three ODIs and two Test matches.

The Zimbabwe series will be followed by another home series against West Indies in November where they will play two Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is.

"We have two home series and the New Zealand tour. We have a lot of work to do in the next two series, where we will have to play well," Mashrafe told reporters after the defeat in the final on Friday.

The team management will also have to deal with the injury concerns of the senior members of the side ahead of the home series.

If there is one thing that permeates every facet of Mushfiqur Rahim's identity as a cricketer and, as proved once again in the Asia Cup opener on Saturday, his status as Bangladesh's best all-round batsman it is his monk-like dedication to prepare as well as humanly possible.

He drew on the Zen-like calm that exhaustive levels of honing inevitably brings while authoring a sublime 150-ball 144 that started in 40-plus degree Celsius heat and went through the travails of a misfiring batting line-up. While a top order collapse and a middle order flurry of wickets is part and parcel of Bangladesh cricket, the Dubai heat in September is not something that any of the team had experienced.

"This is why we train. We don't have experience of batting in such conditions in the past but nobody really notices the hard work we put in at training," Mushfiqur said yesterday at the team's Dubai hotel. "We don't see you when we go for the running sessions at 8:00am. You come after 10:00am or 11:00am. The whole team dedicates itself to such training and this is the just result. [Mohammad] Mithun could have played such an innings because he too prepares himself really well."

He scored his first 10 runs off 31 deliveries, making sure there were no further damages after Bangladesh lost two wickets in the first over and Tamim Iqbal through injury in the second, talking Mohammad Mithun -- making a comeback to the side -- through the tough phase and some false shots. He hit the side's first boundary in the last ball of the eighth over, which in these boundary-filled times shows how tough those first 10 overs were.

Having shown his skill of endurance, the multi-layered Mushfiqur then set about taking the attack apart, bringing up his 50 off 67 balls.

"Mithun really helped me with his positive intent, he made things easier for me. I thought if we could build a partnership -- it was a very good batting wicket -- we would be back on track," said Mushfiqur. "But he got out at a bad time because a set batsman should not have gotten out at that time."

Mithun faltered in the 26th over, playing across the line to Malinga and getting out, precipitating a collapse of three wickets for 10 runs. Mushfiqur returned to endurance mode and continued to inch Bangladesh towards a competitive total with a string of small partnerships with the lower order.

When Tamim made his heroic appearance on 229 for nine, when all 13 players on the ground had thought the innings over, Mushfiqur went up a gear that probably he alone has in Bangladesh. At his best, his arsenal of shots is so varied that no delivery, even yorkers, escape punishment. There was the scoop that turned into a ramp at the last second, inside-out cover drives for a four and a six and a pulled six that would have been expected of a batsman twice his size.

It speaks to the scale of his ambition and his ability that, while the rest of the world raves about the innings, Mushfiqur would not say that it was his best innings.

"All things considered, many may say that," Mushfiqur said. "But I think in the future there may be better innings. But till now, it is one of the best; not the best."

About Tamim coming out to bat with a broken wrist, Mushfiqur -- nursing an injured rib himself -- said: "It was unbelievable. It was different from mine because he could not grip the bat at all. All of us have the dedication for the team and country. Of course the focus is on the two of us because the team won because of us, but even when we lose the dedication is the same."

Jofra Archer and Joe Root took three wickets apiece as Afghanistan slumped to 160 all out in a World Cup warm-up match at the Oval on Monday.

England, fresh from their 12-run defeat by world champions Australia in their previous warm-up fixture, were too strong in the field for rank outsiders Afghanistan in south London.

Fast bowler Archer, in what is tournament hosts England’s last match before they open the World Cup against South Africa at the Oval on Thursday, struck twice with the new ball before ending some late resistance from Mohammad Nabi.

Afghanistan were in danger of being dismissed for under 100 before Nabi, with 44, helped the last two wickets add 68 runs.

Archer dismissed Hazratullah and Rahmat Shah in a brisk new-ball spell.

Meanwhile opener Noor Ali saw scrapped his way to 30 before he played on to Ben Stokes.

Hashmatullah could not get going and that prompted Asghar Afghan to attack the occasional off-spin of Test captain Root.

But, having missed out on a first-ball full toss, Asghar tried to drive Root over the top but found Jason Roy in the deep instead.

Afghanistan lost their next four wickets in a mere seven deliveries, Hashmatullah and Najibullah Zadran carelessly run out, Gulbadin Naib holing out to Moeen Ali and Rashid Khan steering Root to slip for a golden duck.

SCORES IN BRIEF

Afghanistan: 160 all out in 38.4 overs (Nabi 44, Zadran 30; Root 3-22, Archer 3-32)

England: 161 for 1 in 17.9 overs (Roy 89 not out, Bairstow 39, Root 29 not out; Nabi 1-34)

Result: England won by 9 wickets.