Mahmudullah, the World Cup MVP of Bangladesh

Amid a highly disappointing World Cup journey, Mahmudullah Riyad ended as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) for Bangladesh.

The Tigers finished the event with just two wins out of nine matches, making it their worst-ever World Cup since 2007. But Mahmudullah, who was just included in the World Cup squad due to the other players’ failure, held his head high amid the side’s disappointing outing.

He played eight matches and scored 328 runs at a respectable average of 54.66, comfortably the highest amongst the Bangladeshi batters. His strike rate was also commendable, at 91.62, just second highest behind Tanzid Hasan Tamim’s 95.39.

But what made it special for Riyad is that he is the only centurion for Bangladesh in this edition. And with two tons in 2015, Riyad now has three World Cup centuries, also the highest for Bangladesh. Shakib Al Hasan with two centuries, both of which came in the 2019 World Cup, is the second on the ladder.

Liton Das finished second with 284 runs and his 284 is the highest for any Bangladeshi opener in the World Cup history. But still, this is considered a failure as the teams had high hopes for him. He struck two half-centuries.  Vice-captain Najmul Hossain Shanto is in the third position with 222 runs, followed by Mushfiqur Rahim (202) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (201). There are only five batters of Bangladesh who went past 200 runs in this World Cup.

Shakib Al Hasan who had a record-breaking World Cup campaign in 2019, finished at sixth with 186 runs. Shakib was the third-highest run-getter in the last World Cup with 606 runs and his 11 wickets made him the one and only player in World Cup history with 500 plus runs and 10 plus wickets. But he was the shadow of himself in this World Cup.

Shakib’s off form was key in Bangladesh’s poor World Cup show.

Off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz and left-arm pacer Shoriful Islam were the joint highest wicket-taker for Bangladesh in this World Cup with 10 wickets.  Miraz played nine matches while Shoriful played eight.

Shakib Al Hasan took nine wickets in seven matches while Mahedi Hasan claimed six in three matches. The biggest disappointment in the bowling department was Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed who took five wickets each playing eight and seven matches respectively. Shoriful though took 10 wickets, his impact and effectiveness were highly low. In fact, all Bangladesh bowlers, sans Shakib, could not make any impact in any game. Shakib’s three-wicket haul against Afghanistan in the first match was a match-winning performance.