Bangladesh sink to their lowest of lows under captain Shakib Al Hasan

Bangladesh might have won the match against Sri Lanka and kept their hopes of reaching the Champions Trophy in 2025 alive, but the manner in which they have won has left the world of cricket and its fans mostly disappointed, disgruntled and disgusted.

It has obviously divided fans and ex-players with many also taking the side of the Bangladesh skipper for taking advantage of the 'time out' rule against Sri Lankan all-rounder Angelo Mathews.

While that may be the case, many have been left appalled by the lack of sportsmanship shown by the country's ace allrounder when he decided to enforce the 'time out' rule to dismiss Mathews despite the umpires asking him multiple times if he was going to stand by this bizarre mode of dismissal.

The rules are the rules and the spirit of cricket may be just an elitist fad, but the desperation to do what Shakib did against the former Sri Lankan captain and T20 World Cup winner raises more questions than answers.

What is the point of reaching the Champions Trophy if the team is in the current mess?

The batting order is all over the place with the old guard well beyond their primes and the younger ones yet to become anywhere near reliable enough to take the team to the next stage.

The reaction from the Bangladesh fans online has mostly been in favour of this act by Shakib with anyone opposing it being mocked vehemently.

But ask yourself, would you as a Bangladesh cricket fan like it if this decision went against your team?

Imagine you're in Sri Lanka's spot, where the chance of making the semifinals of the World Cup is alive by the barest of margins and two wins from the last two games gives you an outside chance.

And a decision like that goes against your player and you eventually get knocked out of the World Cup. 

We all remember how fans reacted when decisions went against Bangladesh in the 2015 World Cup quarter-final against India.

There was a big reaction from the then ICC President AHM Mustafa Kamal too, with him eventually resigning from his position. 

Bangladesh went into the World Cup with the hopes of reaching the semi-finals at least.

They not only failed there, but the batting has continued to disappoint, and the bowling has been way below par for the most part.

The captaincy of Shakib Al Hasan has been under the spotlight and many times, he has failed as captain.

The whole think tank, including the head coach Chandika Hathurusingha's decisions and selections, have backfired with the loss against The Netherlands being the worst. 

The decision to bowl first against an England side, that does not chase well and has only managed one win in the whole tournament - that against Bangladesh - has also been a massive black mark on the team.

But perhaps the most glaring issue is when we see players not gelling as a team, looking confused as to what their role is.

Young opener Tanzid Hasan Tamim has been put into the team as a result of Tamim Iqbal not being part of the squad.

With the senior Tamim, in many ways being ousted, due to politics from the management and the captain Shakib himself, the junior Tamim, almost unfairly has been put in front of the fire and has been burnt by it.

He may be a talented player, but giving him the job of one of the openers in the World Cup is hardly ideal and has been a massive failure with only one 50-plus opening partnership this whole tournament. 

That aside, the constant batting position changes of Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mushfiqur Rahim and Tawhid Hridoy has only led to them performing well individually but not enough as a unit with Bangladesh not managing to score past 300 a single time this tournament.

All of this can be attributed to Shakib and the head coach Hathuru's decisions and that has only created more chaos in the batting order and the team, which was already missing its former captain and most decorated opener Tamim Iqbal.

The rule for batters arriving at the crease within a particular time was to ensure the game gets the required number of overs per day in (for Tests) and to ensure things don't slow down too much in other formats.

If Mathews was deliberately trying to waste time, a thought could have been made, and later the Sri Lankan veteran even provided video evidence on his social media to show he had reached the crease on time.

Bangladesh were behind in the over rate, and the fielding side does get penalised for slow over rates.

But that time taken by the batting team for injuries or other stoppages doesn't get taken into account when such decisions are made. 

So the decision easily could have been considered by Shakib.

The reaction from Mathews after that, and from Sri Lanka has been perhaps unexpectedly a big one.

Bangladesh cricket and Shakib have been bashed from all corners by international media, fans and of course Sri Lankan players including Mathews who said he has lost all respect for Shakib.

Shakib and co may have won the match, and perhaps get the scant consolation of a Champions Trophy qualification, but what they have lost today is perhaps their biggest loss in their international cricket history.

The team has seen dark days in terms of results in cricket - the loss against Canada in the 2003 World Cup and the loss against Hong Kong in the 2014 T20 World Cup - but the actions by the Bangladesh team may have long-lasting negative effects for years to come.

Shakib will leave the captaincy after the tournament as his career winds down, he will retire as the country's greatest ever cricket player, but respect from the cricketing world for his on and off-field behaviour and activities will be something he never sees, and perhaps doesn't even care about. 

The decision to get Mathews out in this fashion, a first-ever in cricket's history may be within the rules and fair from a technical standpoint, but there can be no doubt that a rule that had a different intention, has been used to get a somewhat unfair advantage here. 

Bangladesh have sunk to a new low, they have become cricket's most dislikable team, and that has happened under the captaincy of Shakib Al Hasan.