Also read: Tamim creates world record, also reaches 6,000-run ODI club
"The wicket wasn't the best to be very honest. It was a difficult wicket. There was seam movement in the first 15 overs, and when the spinners came in it was really difficult; one was turning and one was coming straight. So it was really difficult to bat. I thought Shakib and myself batted really well though we did not score at a higher run rate, but we were batting according to the wicket," said man of the match Tamim in the post-match press conference. "I have to give credit to the team management here again because in the last month and a half, the amount of batting time the lower-order batsmen were given, only those who saw it closely would know. They batted a lot and Nos nine, 10 and 11 scored 50 (45) runs. So that made the difference in the game," the left-handed batsman added. Tamim, who is in blistering form hitting three consecutive fifties in the tri-nation ODI series, lost yet another golden opportunity to bag an ODI hundred. The southpaw on 76 off 105 balls went down the wicket for an ambitious shot against spinner Graeme Cremer only to miss the line of the ball and get stumped.
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Tamim confessing it was a wrong time to go for the hit said, "Maybe the time was wrong to attack. A leg-spinner was bowling and I am a leftie, so the chances are higher for me to succeed against him. I was targeting him for quite some time, but we kept losing wickets regularly, such as Mushfiqur [Rahim] and [Mahmudullah] Riyad. I was targeting those overs, thinking it will be good if I can hit him for one or two [boundaries]. Even if I had gotten out while Mushfiq was there, that would have been better because we would have had five or six batsmen. So if I had tried to build a partnership for five overs and then tried that shot, it would have been better." With Bangladesh losing regular wickets, opportunity was big for youngsters in the side in the form of Sabbir Rahman and Nasir Hossain to stand out as the hero. But the duo combined could sustain only 19 deliveries and chip eight runs to the tally, with Sabbir scoring six of them. "Of course. Every player waits for opportunities like this. It was an opportunity for them. Sabbir was unlucky, it was a brilliant catch (taken by Craig Ervine). I didn't see anything wrong in his shots as well. Maybe Nasir will be disappointed not to score because there was a perfect opportunity for him to get some runs and get his confidence high," Tamim concluded.
