DHAKA: Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Mustafizur Rahman stitched up an unbeaten 51-run partnership to guide Bangladesh home against India in an edge-of-the-seat nail-biter in Dhaka on Sunday.
After it appeared that there was no hope left, Bangladesh fought their way back into the game to produce a memorable victory and take a 1-0 lead in the ODI series.
The architect of the victory, Player of the Match, Mehidy Hasan, however, asserted that he believed that he could win it for Bangladesh despite the situation they were in.
“Maybe people will call me pagol (mad) but I had the honest belief that we could win. I only focused on winning the game. I kept telling myself that I can do this. I thought I’d score 15 runs with Ebadot, 20 runs with Hasan Mahmud and the remaining 15-20 runs with Mustafiz. But two quick wickets meant that it was a do-or-die situation with the last wicket remaining. I had to take calculated risks. Mustafiz’s words really stayed with me. It gave me more belief,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Mehidy as saying.
He revealed that the words of his batting partner, No.11 Mustafizur, gave him confidence. “Mustafizur told me, “You don’t worry about me. I will stop the ball at my end. I will take balls on the body, but I won’t get out,” he said. “If I thought that we would lose or we won’t be able to get the remaining runs, it wouldn’t have worked out like this. It was definitely a do-or-die situation. There was no problem getting out trying to hit out. When we needed 50 runs, I took the chances. It came off,” Mehidy said.
Mehidy slammed Kuldeep Sen for two sixes in an over and thereafter hammered Deepak Chahar for three fours in the 44th over. It reduced the runs remaining to 14, and that’s when it got serious.
“If I thought that we would lose or we won’t be able to get the remaining runs, it wouldn’t have worked out like this. It was definitely a do-or-die situation. There was no problem to get out trying to hit out. When we needed 50 runs, I took the chances. It came off. But when we needed 14 or 10 runs, then I got really excited. We have lost a lot of close matches, but Mustafiz kept giving me encouragement. He told me, ‘don’t hurry, don’t try to hit a six. You bat along the ground, we will get the runs’. I was very clear with my game plan. I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I think that helped out also,” Mehidy said.
Mehidy was helped by Mustafizur’s assured posture at the other end, where he even launched Bangladesh’s first boundary since the 23rd over with a four through the covers. “Mustafiz is my good friend. He supported me a lot. One thing that stood out was his confidence, ” Mehidy said.
“He kept telling me not to worry about him. A batter would always worry about the tailender. If he gets out, it’s all over. But his approach allowed me to shape my game plan. Who to attack, when to attack. I didn’t go after every ball. I did sky a couple, but they couldn’t take the chances. You are bound to get out if you are trying to hit every ball. Calculative risk helped out,” he further added.
With the help of his all-round performance, Miraz has helped Bangladesh take a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series putting Rohit Sharma-led side in a spot of bother from where they will have to win both their upcoming games to win the series. (ANI)
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