Bangladesh struggled to get onto the scoresheet in the opening half where they earned seven penalty corners. Among those seven, they converted only one.
Following unsuccessful efforts from the set pieces, Jimmy then turned out to be saviour for the host, netting two lovely field goals which enabled Bangladesh to find their rhythm.
Jimmy's brace spread confidence among the drag-and-flick specialists in the team as Chayan scored two, along with Ashraful Islam's one; all coming from penalty corners.
“Firstly, we wanted to win. But still, we could have scored at least 10-12 goals if we had converted most of our chances. The positive thing is that we were able to gain confidence,” said Jimmy after the game.
Fiji, one of the lowest ranked participants in the tournament, looked like they had prepared well to defend the penalty corners. They were busy defending their territory for most of the game with rare counter attacks in the meantime.
Bangladesh's performance in the first two quarters was all about misfiring attacks and unproductive penalty corners. The Fiji goalkeeper Eyre Richard also showed bravery, denying some of the attacks from the men in red and green, including a promising effort of Romman Sarkar in the 13th minute.
Bangladesh earned their first penalty corner in the fifth minute and went on to earn a dozen more in the rest of the game, converting three of them.
Chayan provided the home side the much deserved lead in the 26th minute, converting Bangladesh's seventh penalty corner. Krishno Kumar pushed the ball forward, Sarwar Hossain stopped it and Chayan smashed home with powerful hit.
Sarwar Hossain shoots at goal
DHAKA TRIBUNEFiji gave the home side a wake-up call, equalising with two minutes into the third quarter, converting their only penalty corner through Smith Hector Jr. Smith Adrian stopped a push from Fong Martin before Hector calmly sent the ball past custodian Asim Gope with grounder.
After facing the opponent's solid defending against nearly half a dozen penalty corners, Bangladesh seemed to have gone for a new plan that allowed them to create more chances for field goals. The result came immediately.
Jimmy put Bangladesh ahead again five minutes later with a brilliant attack, led by the forward himself, and Kamruzzaman Rana. The one-to-one between Jimmy and Rana split the Fiji defence before Jimmy slotted home from the right side of the circle.
Jimmy extended the lead three minutes later with a sneaky flick, following a cutback by Romman from the right side. Jimmy was unmarked in front of goal.
Chayan netted his second in the 54th minute from Bangladesh's 10th penalty corner after Milon's push was stopped by Sarwar. This time, Chayan was more precise in hitting the back of the net, compared to his previous effort.
Ashraful finally broke his jinx of failing to score from penalty corners as the young defender made it 5-1 three minutes before the end of stipulated time, firing from Sarwar's stop inside the net after Krishno's push.
Bangladesh, who lost 2-0 against Malaysia in the first game, will take on Oman in a crucial encounter on Tuesday. The game will decide who finishes second in Pool A.
Jimmy said, “We have a vital game against Oman. It will be a crucial match if we have to finish second. If we play our natural game we can overcome them. Hopefully we will come back and Chayan, Ashraful and Khorshedur [Rahman] will find their way and score more goals from penalty corners.”
RESULTSBangladesh 5 (Chayan 26, 54, Jimmy 37, 40, Ashraful 57)
1 Fiji (Hector 32)
Ghana 5 4 Sri LankaEgypt 2 (3) 2 (2) ChinaMalaysia 6 - 1 Oman