Uncomfortably numb for Bangladesh's Mahbubul

That dreaded day in a bowler’s life, when he just hates it…hates being utterly helpless to prevent his nurtured ego shatter into million pieces every time he gets hammered into the stands, one big shot after another…and the scoreboard doesn’t lie, and the crowd doesn’t hold back, the boos, witty digs among the blatant insults to top off a hellish day at the office!

That day came into Mahbubul Alam’s life on August 14, 2009 at Bulawayo in the 3rd ODI of the 5-match series. That day marked the beginning of the end of Mahbubul’s short international career.

On that fateful day at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo, Mahbubul of Bangladesh was beaten by Zimbabwe’s batsmen on biblical proportions on a batting pitch and bowlers’ graveyard.

As if he had seen a ghost, Mahbubul was absolutely shell-shocked when he finished his forgettable spell of nine over, two wickets for 84 runs…84 runs with an economy rate of only 9.33. (Oh, there was a maiden before the bowling figures was disfigured by the Zimbabwean batters)

Mahbubul couldn’t believe his eyes, the brutal carnage by Chigumbura and co, over after over...just couple of hours before it seemed his day couldn’t have started any better…a wicket in the first over, and another one in the next…by his fourth over, Mahbubul conceded only 20 runs, took two wickets and bowled a probing maiden as well!

Overs 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 basically sealed the fate for Mahbubul, as far as his international career was concerned. (He played the next match in the series, bowled eight overs, took two wickets but was again butchered for 63 runs. After the game, Mahbubul bid farewell to his new found fame of representing Bangladesh forever.)

14, 11, 9, 13 and 17 runs…Mahbubul was flayed mercilessly in the last five overs of his spell in the third ODI of the series, and was cruelly exposed to the realities of international cricket during the death overs…the selectors had learnt their lesson after the next game, they were misled into promoting mediocrity, mediocrity that not only is an embarrassment to the player, but to the country at large.

Now let’s look at the unbelievable bowling performance (or the lack of it) of Mahbubul Alam in more detail.

He opened the bowling, bowled four spells, five overs with the new ball, one over in the middle of the innings, two overs at the backend and one howler in the 49th over of the match.

His start was simply brilliant…one must give credit where it is due. He moved the ball just enough to trouble the batsmen and was duly rewarded early with Vusi Sibanda’s scalp, while at the other end Vermeulen got going with two good looking drives in the first over.

Mahbubul got his man in his second over, when Mark Vermeulen fell to a soft dismissal against the run of play. He could have hammered the full delivery from Mahbubul, heading down the leg side anywhere but flicked it straight to short wicket where Mahmudullah didn’t make any mistake.

Mahbubul kept Hamilton Masakadza and Charles Coventry relatively quiet in the four overs he bowled, but his captain took the decision to give him the extra over which back-fired almost immediately…Coventry struck a four and a huge six in consecutive deliveries after Masakadza took three runs from a short, wide ball. That over signaled what was about to happen to the hapless Mahbubul with the whole world watching the game live from the Oueens Sports Club stadium.

The Bangladesh skipper in the match, Shakib Al Hasan bought back his semi-fast bowler in the 35th over, where Masakadza hammered Mahbubul for 10 runs with a awesome six.

Shakib Al Hasan as the captain didn’t have the luxury of reliable back-up bowlers in the game, and had to bring back Mahbubul to bowl the 40th over. Elton Chigumbura took nine runs quite easily.

In the next over, Chigumbura smashed two successive fours, and Mahbubul gave away 13 runs to delight of the delirious home crowd at Bulawayo.

The last over Mahbubul bowled was definitely his worst, where he was carted all across the Queens Sports Club for 17 runs, in a brutal assault by Matsikenyeri’s blade to end the innings for Zimbabwe on a high.

Matsikenyeri made merry with loopy, full hit-me balls from Mahbubul, and wrecked the bowler’s figures with 15 runs. He muscled a massive six, ran a four and had two twos and a single in the most expensive over of the match.

Zimbabwe managed to score 323 for 7 in 50 overs, and it is still the highest total in all the one-day internationals they played with Bangladesh so far. (Mind you, Zimbabwe play with Bangladesh a lot.)

Well, after putting up a huge total on the board, Zimbabwe bowlers were on business from the start, made early in-roads and Bangladesh’s chase got derailed by before the tenth over was completed. Tigers lost by 69 runs.

On a positive note, Mahbubul tried to make amends for his atrocious display with the ball. He had the bat in his hand, and went out to bat when the game was all but lost. The Bangladesh tailender tried to give back some of their own medicine to the Zimbabweans.

He slogged 59 runs in pure rage, angry from beating by batsmen and taunts from the crowd, Mahbubul took out some of his frustration during his 43-ball stay at the wicket. With the field up, Mahbubul threw the kitchen sink at everything he could reach, and belted two boundaries and three sixes in a futile cause. (Well, not really if you consider he brought down the margin of defeat as much as he could.)

Mahbubul Alam played five one-day games in 2009, bowled 37 overs in total, was battered for 280 runs by Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and West Indies batsmen, took seven wickets with 2 for 42 being his best return at Basseterre, gave away 40 runs for a wicket, conceded 7.56 runs per over in average with a not-so-bad strike rate of 31.7 overall.

After the beating Mahbubul received at the hands of Zimbabweans, he was banished to the backwaters of domestic cricket, and even after six years the poor lad is yet to recover from that wretched experience in front of the whole world…he hasn’t done anything noteworthy after he lost his place in the Bangladesh national team.

Gone with the wind, he has.

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