Why Lorcan Tucker Is The Hero Of The Cricket World Right Now?

The margins of a victory or, as they say, the magnitude of a win don’t alone dictate a cricket result; Cricket is often measured by the tiniest modicum of efforts that perhaps don’t always seem to be on the favourite side.

Cricket is measured by the bits of rigour that may not be that of the winning team. And by that logic, it ought to be said that irrespective of whether he ends up on the winning or the losing side, what Lorcan Tucker achieved in the ongoing Test against Bangladesh must be celebrated as the deed of a hero.

For nothing else would actually suffice

If you were hanging out on the Google search button and typing the words Ireland versus Bangladesh, whether to check the score or just what was happening in the game, then going by the nature of Cricket that transpired over the last two days, the live win probability wasn’t Ireland’s best friend.

In fact, it didn’t give Ireland a chance at all.

On the completion of day 1, the live win probability given Ireland, who batted first and were easily all out, reflected a win probability of one percent.

This, very tiny margin, would shrink further upon the completion of the next day’s play by which time the Irish team had been bundled out only to suffer a huge first innings lead of Bangladesh thanks to Mushfiqur’s great century.

But where it stands now, Ireland are fighting for survival.

And the game that seemed certain to end on Day 3 has stretched to day 4

But just how did that happen? It might not have been a massive turnaround of the kinds that one saw VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid author at Kolkata back in 2001. But the very fact that Ireland are still in the contest and the Test match has opened its reach to the penultimate day is down to the solo heroics of Lorcan Tucker.

Not a name about which you read an awful lot ever. Not a name that’s used to attracting a wide array of magnificent adjectives either.

Regardless, Lorcan Tucker will continue to be the name that will remind a Bangladesh team powered by legends like Musfiqur, Shakib and Tamim that Ireland are no lame pushovers.

And that when they came to play international Test cricket to Bangladesh, they didn’t surrender to the powerful side Bangladesh attacked them with.

The pleasure of a T20 vs the fight of the Test

Playing only his maiden Test match, determined right-handed batter Lorcan Tucker stroked a watchful and patient 108 to ensure that Ireland were still in the contest and weren’t spun away into the web of deception that able Bangladesh spinners had concocted all around the visitors.

In a contest where even mature and gritty batters such as the Irish captain Andy Balberine departed without giving the scorers much of a job, that Lorcan Tucker found a way to answer back a very potent Bangladeshi bowling line up was indeed remarkable, and truth be told, inspiring.

As a matter of fact, the 26-year-old didn’t quite given in when the troika of Taijul, Shoriful and Shakib himself were all over his troubled team. Not only that, his true success in this Sher-e-Bangla Test can eb gauged by the fact that the right hander found a way to remain at the wicket utterly unmoved for 162 deliveries in this second innings of the one-off Test.

Frankly enough, it’s one thing to strike a Test match hundred but something quite different and challenging to tame the spinners on what is a turning pitch in the sub-continent.

Loud praise and countless retweets may not belong to this up and coming Irish talent as much of the world’s focus remains buried to the ongoing Indian Premier League, which truth be told, isn’t that hard to understand. For in today’s fast paced and entertainment-hungry world where spectators seek a moment of reprieve from their busy lives, few things can be as uplifting as the T20.

But that being said, one must also remember to focus that there’s still the old world doggedness of a Test match that’s perhaps just as riveting. And for which Lorcan Tucker must be congratulated for giving his side something to fight Bangladesh with.

The win probability right now for Ireland is at 7 per cent.