Sports Inquiry: March 2019

Youngster Rabiul Hasan netted the ball in the 84^thminute of the match and led his team to a 1-0 victory against the host nation at Phnom Penh Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. With this triumph, the visiting side maintained their unbeaten record against Cambodia as they won twice and drew once in their last three encounters against the East Asian country. However, it was the first international goal for the 19-year-old player, who plays for Arambagh Krira Sangha in the domestic league. This win against a higher-ranked football team in their own ground in an international friendly on Saturday (March 9) certainly made the supporters of red and green ecstatic.

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Bangladesh could have won the match by a bigger margin had they not missed a few easy chances. On pen and paper, the 172^ndranked team Cambodia was favorite, but they were outshined by the performance of the tigers, who are currently ranked 192^nd in the latest FIFA ranking, throughout the match.

This victory was much needed for Bangladesh to enhance their morale. With this achievement, the men in red and green registered their first international win after five months as their last win came against Laos 1-0 at Sylhet District Stadiumin the Bangabandhu Gold Cup on October 1, 2018. It took them almost four years to get their first victory away from home as they last beat Bhutan 3-0 at Trivandrum International Stadium, Kariavattom, India in their SAFF Championship match. They also got a victory in the opponent team’s ground after six years as they last won against Nepal 2-0 at the Dasrath Rangosal Stadium in Kathmandu back on March 4, 2013.

Source:

https://www.dhakatribune.com/sport/football/2019/03/09/bangladesh-beat-cambodia-1-0

It is perhaps all bowlers’ dream to destroy the opponent team’s batting line up single-handedly. It is such a difficult and nearly impossible task that only a few cricketers have done it so far. However, many more players are likely to be included in this elite club in future, but the pitch being more batting friendly, it has become really very hard for bowlers to take all the wickets of an opponent team in an innings in the longest version of the cricket team. As cricket is a game of making new records, anything can happen.

Jim Laker:

England’s right-arm off break bowler, James Charles Laker (who is popularly known as Jim Laker), became the first cricketer to achieve this feat in the history of cricket game. This incident took place at Old Trafford, Manchester in 1956 when the bowler picked up all 10 wickets of the Australian cricket team for 53 runs in 51.2 overs in the second innings of the fourth Test of the 1956 Ashes series. However, in the first innings of the same match, the spinner also bagged 9 wickets conceding 37 runs in 16.4 overs. The remaining one wicket of that innings was taken by Tony Lock. Jim Laker ended up taking 19 wickets for 90, which is a world record in first class cricket. Because of his outstanding performance, this match has become known as Laker’s match. He led his team to win the match by an innings and 170 runs.

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Full Scorecard- http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/17417/scorecard/62814/england-vs-australia-4th-test-australia-tour-of-england-1956

Anil Kumble:

It looked like no other players will be able to touch this record. However, 43 years after Jim Laker set this record, Anil Kumble of India repeated the history at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi in 1999. The right-arm leg spinner (leg break googly) grabbed all 10 Pakistani wickets in the second innings of the 2^nd Test bowling 26.3 overs giving 74 runs. With this achievement, Anil Kumble became only the second bowler to reach the feat of taking all the wickets in an innings. However, in the first innings of the same match, he could pick up only four wickets, totaling to 14 for 149. Because of his good performance, India won the match by 212 runs.

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Full Scorecard- http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/15864/scorecard/63829/india-vs-pakistan-2nd-test-pakistan-tour-of-india-1998-99

Mehboob Alam:

Nepalese cricketer, Mehboob Alam, has also equaled this record, but his one is different from the other two players mentioned above because he has done it in the limited version of the cricket game. The left-arm fast bowler took all ten wickets of Mozambique giving 12 runs in 7.5 overs in a match during the 2008 ICC World Cricket League Division Five in Jersey. So far this is the best bowling figure in a limited over cricket match. Because of his superb bowling, the opponent team was bowled out for just 19 runs.