Tigers eye a ‘Miracle of Melbourne’
Angelo Mathews did something on his Melbourne Cricket Ground debut five years ago that hardly anyone can expect from a youngster. From 107-8, Mathews, then only 22, lifted Sri Lanka to 240 with an unbeaten 77 to set-up a one-wicket win against Australia, to Sri Lankan fans the phenomenon now known as ‘Miracle of Melbourne’. Sri Lanka eventually went on to win the series 2-1, their first ever series win against Australia in Australia. Since then every time he played a game at the MCG, Mathews was reminded of the miraculous innings and it was no exception on Wednesday. Mathews will carry the memory again today when he will lead Sri Lanka in their crucial World Cup match against Bangladesh at the MCG. With plenty of young players at their disposals, Bangladesh can expect that one or two of them will do an Angelo in country’s MCG debut to give them a chance to qualify for the World Cup quarter-finals.
Melbourne is not the ideal place for any team to face Sri Lanka, who has their biggest population outside home in this city. Thousands of them are expected to be at the gallery to cheer on the side, which even Bangladesh can find it difficult to match. Since coming to Australia wherever Bangladesh went they enjoyed an overwhelming support. Skipper Mashrafee bin Murtaza was promised a similar support at the MCG too, which he said will be another source of inspiration. The Tigers could not have expected to face Sri Lanka at a better time after the islanders coming to the World Cup on the back of a 0-2 and 2-4 thrashing to New Zealand respectively in Test and one-day international series. Sri Lanka also lost their opening match to New Zealand by a huge margin and struggled to beat an unfancied Afghanistan team, which took them to the back foot. Despite enjoying 88 per cent winning record against Bangladesh in 37 meetings, a sense of pessimism gripped the Sri Lankan team to give the Tigers already an upper hand.
Bangladesh always believed that this is the game they can win irrespective of the condition as compared to the other top teams they have better record against Sri Lankans. They defeated Sri Lanka at least four times at home and away and were fiercely competitive on some occasions in their last bilateral series in last February-March despite not winning any game. Both the Twenty20 matches were decided on the final over before they caught Sri Lanka on the hop in the first ODI too leaving them struggling at 67-8 at one phase. Thisara staged a ‘Miracle of Dhaka’ to bail Sri Lanka out and snatch the momentum away. While Bangladesh’s competitiveness over the past few years is kind of motivation for the Tigers, the end result is certainly not. Mashrafee therefore wanted to forget the past and look forward to unsettle Sri Lanka. ‘I don’t think past results help on a particular day,’ he said in Melbourne on Wednesday. ‘When I go to the field, I don’t play thinking that I did good or bad in the past. ‘The important thing is what I am doing and if I am doing that correctly. ‘Yes, we lost in the past because we played badly. Last year we could not play well. But I would say we are not thinking too much about that. ‘The same thing was said before Afghanistan that we lost to them,’ he said. The result of Afghan match is there to be seen by all and Mashrafee hoped a similar reply against Sri Lanka as well.
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