Tigers' top five bowling performances in World Cups

Bangladesh qualified for the ICC men's cricket World Cup for the first time back in 1999 after becoming the ICC Champions Trophy, the top tournament of the associate nations. Tigers made a remarkable debut as they beat powerhouse Pakistan in the group stage and their all-rounder Khaled Mahmud Shujon orchestrated the performance with a brilliant display of bowling. Ever since the Tigers produced some memorable bowling performances in next five World Cups till date. Dhaka Tribune Sports has chosen five of those match winning efforts considering their impact, the strength of opponents among other things. 

Khaled Mahmud Shujon against Pakistan in 1999 WC

Bangladesh beat fellow associate team Scotland and lost to all other Test nations before facing inform Pakistan in their last group match on May 31. They were expected to face a battering but the batters did a reasonable job posting 223 runs on the board against the likes of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younus, Shoaib Akhter and Saqlain Mushtaq. And the bowlers, led by the diminutive Shujon made it a winning score.

He bowled superbly with swing and accuracy in that English condition and took the wickets of Shahid Afridi, Inzamam ul-Haque and Salim Malik. Shujon’s courageous bowing led Bangladesh in to a stunning 62-run win. The right-handed all-rounder finished the match with a bowling figure of 10-2-30-3 and was adjudged man of the match.

Mashrafe bin Mortaza against India in 2007 WC

Mashrafe was extremely emotional hearing the death news of his longtime friend and team-mate Manjarul Islam and he produced one of the most inspiring performances in Bangladesh history.at Port of Spain against star studded India who had the batsmen like Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhohi etc. But that famous line up was collapsed against Bangladesh in that group match with brilliant bowling by Mashrafe Bin Mortaza upfront and tidy spin bowling from  left arm spinners in
middle and late overs. Mashrafe took four wickets and finished the innings as 9.3-2-38-4. Mashrafe’s first spell actually set the tone of the match where he took the wickets of Sehwag and Robin Utthapa. Sehwag’s wicket, bowled by an in-swinger, was certainly one of the best deliveries of the match. And after a five-wicket win for Bangladesh, Mashrafe was adjudged man of the match.      

Abdur Razzak against South Africa in 2007 WC

In 2007 World Cup, Bangladesh produced another stunning performance by beating South Africa in the super eight stage. Lead by Mohammad Ashraful’s brilliant 87 run innings, Bangladesh post 251 on the board. The Proteas managed to score 184 losing all of their wicket and credit goes to all Bangladesh bowlers and also their brilliant fielding effort. Main damage was done by two left arm spinners Abdur Razzak and Mohammod Rafique. The duo conceded only 47 runs in 19.4 overs between them which created immense pressure to
Proteas batting line up in the middle overs and they collapsed eventually. Razzak’s bowling figure was 9.4-1-25-3 including the wicket of AB de Villiars while Rafique ended with 10-2-22-1. Although Ashraful was adjudged man of the match, but these two spinners, specially Razzak bowled superbly to pull out a superb win for Tigers.

 Rubel Hossain against England in 2015 WC

Bangladesh vs England match at Adelaide in 2015 has entered in to the cricketing folklore of Bangladesh. Mahmudullah scored century in that match which was the first ever by any Bangladeshi batsman in World Cup stage. And it was a do or die match for England as they had to win to stay alive in the tournament.  Later, Tigers knocked out England out of the World Cup after defeating them by 15 runs. English commentator Nasser Hussain aptly said, “Bangladesh Tigers have knocked the England Lions out of the World Cup. One of the Best days in Bangladesh cricket and one of the lowest for England”. Pacer Rubel Hossain bowled superbly in that match particularly in the closing stage
of the match. The right arm pacer was under pressure due to his off-field incident prior to World Cup. But Rubel bowled one of the most fearsome spells in late stage of the match and he bowled Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson to seal the match when England needed 16 runs to win. Rubel took four wickets in 9.4 overs conceding 54 runs and his bowling effort that day is one of the finest in World Cup history for Bangladesh.

 Shakib al Hasan against Afghanistan in 2019 WC

Bangladesh’s round robin league match against Afghanistan at Rose Bowl Southampton in 2019 World Cup was pretty intense. Pressure was on Bangladesh as they need to win to stay alive of their chance of reaching semifinal. Riding on Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib's fifty plus innings Bangladesh post 262 on the board on a challenging pith. In reply Afghanistan started well and at one stage was 49 for no loss
after 10 overs. Then Shakib came to the party and produced a brilliant display of left arm spin bowling.  Shakib’s world class bowling effort put Afghans on a spin and they lost the plot in middle overs while chasing.  Afghanistan were bowled for 200 and Bangladesh won the match by 62 runs. Shakib finished the match as 10-1-29-5 with four top-order wickets. No doubt Shakib was man of the match for his all-round effort.  The way Shakib bowled in that match in crucial period of the game and took wickets one by one, was pretty much satisfying for Tigers’ fan.