[BushidoTiger]

With the risk of being Captain Obvious, I think that the root cause for the one-run defeat is the same one that keeps preventing us from going over the threshold of games where it matters most. It is the same gnarling one that caused Mashrafe to bring himself back against India in Australia that caused TWO seasoned at set batsmen cause same brain freeze a couple of days ago.

You could have two patients showing up at a Neurologist complaining about apparently similar type of sever migraine. When the doctor found out that one of the patients had been partying non-stop at Mardi Gras for five days straight with little or no sleep, only 'prescription' was given was some over-the-counter pills to get the patient to sleep it off without any further interruption. The other patient with similar symptom, upon further questioning, could reveal a much more ominous origin. The doctor might, based on patient's response, order an MRI to validate her fear to discover a growth near the brain-stem, and have the patient to go under the knife, immediately after.
Just like how two dramatically different root causes can manifest themselves in similar symptom such as a migraine, in my opinion, the root cause for bewildering behavior especially in big games can't be explain away about being emotional or just part of the game.

The ‘bad’ decision from the umpire, the conspiracy from ICC, playing on enemy turf or the perceived or real slight or disrespect from untermensch like Shastri, Shidu or others, are nothing but noise.

If we play the reel backward starting from the very last ball, we'd see that while Indians players were talking things over in meeting after meeting, apparently going over every possible scenarios, we see Dhoni taking one globe off - almost telegraphing what was about to transpire; we do not see BD batsmen huddled in the middle plotting theirs (perhaps, I missed it on TV). I would've thought a water boy would be sent to the newbies with message from the camp on how to best steal that run. After all BD had nothing to lose except the entire hope of the nation that lied on that one single run. In another plane, Hom would NOT have frozen for few seconds, watching the ball reaching to Dhoni, as if in a slow motion, looking at himself, outside of his own self. He would have run on the very micro-second the he felt the air of the ball teasing past his bat as if to dare him to take off. The same plane, would have had Mustafiz would have taken of, perhaps, a nano-second prior to ball leaving the bowlers hand and dove on the side. I'm sure being mankad was moot at that point. But, these are all wishful thinking: “if only..." - something that is all too familiar to BD fans. We can, however, chalk all of that to big game jitters, inexperience or the stone cold thirty-four year old Dhoni's experience and body trumping over teen age nerves on the other end.

What we can NOT (and should not) gloss over is the fact that the ball prior to that one was bowled to a batsman who was, in addition to being seasoned and set one for that very game, was having what could be his best T20 form ever. This seasoned and journeyman warrior just witnessed his partner, after hitting back-to-back boundaries showed a display of jejune celebration that turned out to be pathetically premature. The same batsman, his effort to win in style skied his shot and got caught. The jubilation on the stand, the 'can't-believe' look on the Indian players and their celebration and the apparent heartache happened few yard in front his very eyes. He had a meager one run to tie and two more balls to go. What does he do? Of course he would repeat EXACTLY the same thing that just happened moments before. The fact that there was NO post factum realization of what just took place to his comrade a moment before - is where the problem lies.

For this, I would blame both the fans and the players.

Both of these guys, independent of the genuine remorse they have; for the last two fatal balls they faced, were utterly selfish.
Mushfiq, after the juvenile celebration, wanted to be the hero - just like Mashrafe, in the past, wanted to finish is in style with that glamour shot that never came.

Mahmudullah, I'm sure thought to himself, "well, let me show (you) how it's done" was motivated by the same desire to be glorified - more than what he would have had if he did it in a 'boring' way - taking one run at a time. Apparently, these two are married to siblings and there might be a drive to have the bragging right in the dinner table latter on.

The fact that BOTH of these guys did not realize that their immediate task was to secure a draw PRIOR to any glory and garlands awaiting them, speaks volumes about us as fans and perhaps as people.

It is us, who have created this monster of irrational expectations by having everyone from the head of the country to the average layman, going overboard every success the team had. Instead of celebrating our progress, we routinely go overboard - in both our celebration and expectations where the latter continue to expand geometrically while our players were progressing in linear albeit upward slope. Do not get me wrong, I am not the anti-celebratory Grinch here. I think we should celebrate especially in a country where not much is there to unite the political divisions and where corruption are abound, Cricket is one of the few bright spots. However, when players are showered with government sanctioned lands, cars and other accolades that are far disproportionate to the success itself, a dangerous precedent is set and fans' expectations become insatiable and ultimately, unsustainable.

What we are left with is that players start to play for the applause with each eruption on the stands from a boundary (or a wicket), comes the euphoria that, similar to a drug that continues to taunt the addict to reach the next level; does the same magic on the players. Like the addict, woefully trapped, our batsmen, reach for the next hit, the next level of euphoria. The sudden rush of blood, the brain-freeze, inability to calibrate shots according to the merit of the situation, the deer-in-a-headlight behavior, etc., are not the result of inexperience, or ‘just another part of the game’, are just mere symptoms. The root cause, especially for professionals who have been around the block many times and who should and do know better, lies on their perceived need to be heroes. I have been parroting the same thing in the past and I continue to claim this.

We, the fans need to mature as well. There will be time when we too, will have our breakout heroes. In fact, I can name a few that are in the making. But, we are not there yet. We have glimpse of success and we are just barely getting used to winning. The team has all the right settings with a great coach and needs to go through the phase where winning is consistent.

Our expectations too, need to be modulated. Paradoxically, perhaps, we need to go beyond having expectations that are so low that celebrations become over-the-top while hoping that the our new-found pragmatism would rub off to the players where they would play sober- unshackled of the need for next euphoric hit coming from the gallery.