Tigers to return home tomorrow after WC mission

Bangladesh national cricket team is set to return home tomorrow after their World Cup mission, in which they targeted a semifinal spot but returned with sitting at seventh place.

The Tigers will fly from London Heathrow Airport at 10.15 PM (as per British time) on Saturday and land the country at 5.20 PM (Bangladesh Standard Time) on Sunday.

All of the players barring the coach Steve Rhodes, an England citizen is expected to reach the country.

Bangladesh won three matches against mighty South Africa, West Indies and Afghanistan and lost to New Zealand, England, Australia, India and Pakistan. Their match against Sri Lanka was washed out without a ball being bowled due to rain. 

It meant the Tigers couldn't defeat any top favourite team, which would be their Achilles heel.

However in losing-cause too they fought hard as they gave the teams like New Zealand, Australia, India a good run for money. They were thumped by hosts England 106 runs, which was their only mediocre performance up until the match against Pakistan.

As their World Cup semifinal hope was ended following the 28-run defeat to India, Bangladesh aimed to wrap up the tournament with a victory against Pakistan and they were confident because of winning against them in the last four matches in a row.

But Pakistan this time proved them superior to Bangladesh and whacked them past by 94 runs, a result that took the gloss off from their entire World Cup. What actually hurt the fans was the manner in which the Tigers lost the match, as they failed to put up minimum resistance against Pakistan's teen-age fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi who claimed 6-35, the best bowling figure by a Pakistani bowler in World Cup.

However on personal front it was amazing World Cup for Shakib Al Hasan, who reached some milestone in each and every match to keep the whole world spellbound. 

Shakib ended the World Cup with 606 runs and 11 wickets, a double never achieved by any player in the history. For the time being, he is the highest-run getter in this edition with Rohit Sharma in second place with 544 runs. 

Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman also claimed 20 wickets, a Bangladesh record, which propelled him to the second place of bowling list in this World Cup behind Australia's Mitchell Starc (24 wickets). 

Mustafizur snapped up back-to-back five wickets against India and Pakistan to make the feat more valuable. He became only second Bangladesh bowler to take five-for in World Cup after Shakib Al Hasan, who too achieved the feat in this World Cup against Afghanistan.

The duo's individual performance is a consolation in an otherwise a pretty ordinary tournament for Bangladesh.