Bangladesh all-rounder Mehedi Hasan Miraz is happy to have been able to repay the trust shown on him by the team management.
The right-arm spinner cum batter was key for Bangladesh team as they registered their maiden bilateral Twenty20 international series win against England.
Bangladesh sealed a four-wicket win in the second T20I against world champions England at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium Sunday to secure the series with a game to spare.
Bangladesh opted to bowl first after winning the toss and dismissed England for a mere 117 runs.
Miraz, playing his 20th T20I, emerged with his career best figure of four wickets conceding just 12 runs in four overs to trigger the England collapse and then contributed with the willow, adding 20 runs to the board in 16 deliveries, laced with two over boundaries.
Miraz had come to the playing XI in this game replacing Shamim Hossain.
Miraz till date has been on and off when it came to T20 format for the national side and had picked up only eight wickets in 19 previous appearances and with the bat played more as a floater batting at different positions as per the needs of the team.
“The team management showed trust in me. They thought I will be able to deliver something playing on this wicket. I am happy to have been able to keep their trust. This is a wonderful feeling,” said Miraz to the media in Mirpur Sunday.
“We won [a series] against England, that too in T20s. They are world champions. So it is a great feeling all over the dressing room at the moment. We do not get to play enough against England specially in the shortest format of the game. I think this was just the third T20I we played against them in 20 years or so. This was first bilateral series against them [in T20] so this is a big moment for us,” said Miraz.
The series was Bangladesh's first T20 assignment since the T20 World Cup in Australia last year.
Bangladesh had finished with two wins – their best in the competition – but still the result was widely deemed unsatisfactory.
Since then, Bangladesh have made major changes and the unit in the shortest format of cricket now relies more on young shoulders with Shakib al Hasan the only established senior as captain.
While speaking on the changes since last T20 World Cup, Miraz said the players in the national fold had a big change in mentality and are now more positive when playing T20.
“We had a good chance in T20 World Cup to be honest. We played some good cricket there and had the chance to play semis if we had won against Pakistan. The players now have more positive intent and have more courage which you need in this format,” said Miraz.
“There are a few young players in the team now who are playing well like Towhid Hridoy. He has just started playing international but it doesn't look like he is new. [Nazmul Hossain] Shanto has overcome his challenges and despite heavy criticism has found way to perform for the team, he has been doing well for a long time now. So there are changes that is helping the team do well in T20I,” the Bangladesh cricketer added.