Bangladesh one-day international captain Tamim Iqbal termed the historic 2-1 series victory against hosts South Africa as the greatest win in his career.
Bangladesh stormed to their maiden ODI series win in South Africa with right-arm pacer Taskin Ahmed's first five-wicket haul in eight years helping them to bowl the Proteas out for just 154.
Later Bangladesh skipper Tamim led from the front with an unbeaten 87 to write Bangladesh's biggest overseas win in terms of balls remaining – the chase was reached with 141 balls to spare.
“This is massive. This is probably the greatest achievement in my career and our career, I think. We got four seniors [himself, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib al Hasan and Mahmudullah] playing in the team for around 15 years now. I will rate this series win above everything else. It gives us a belief that when we are on tour it is not only about losing games. We can win games and series as well. This win will definitely give that confidence to the group,” said an elated Tamim.
Bangladesh were at the top of the ICC World Cup Super League before travelling to South Africa.
With two significant wins in the series, Bangladesh have now extended the lead at the top.
Bangladesh with 120 points and 12 wins in 18 games are above all leading cricket nations in the world.
“We take pride in ODI cricket. We think we are a very good side. We have defeated all teams at home. We are comfortable in this format and have been doing well consistently for last five to six years. We needed to win away from home and we have done that in this series,” the left-handed opener added.
Tamim went on to praise Man of the Series and Man of the Match of the series deciding game Taskin for his effort.
The right-arm pacer, including the five-wicket haul in the last game, finished with eight wickets in the series.
“I am a very proud man at the moment, especially a Bangladesh fast bowler [Taskin] getting a five-for and getting a Man of the Series, winning the series. I cannot ask for anything more. I always said everybody thinks about spin when it's Bangladesh but the pace department has been brilliant for the last two years,” said Tamim.
“I would like to thank the current and the previous coaches who have worked with the fast bowlers. They did a fantastic job,” he added.