Bangladesh off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz said he had aimed for dot balls to pile pressure on opposition batsmen and force them to make mistake. The Bangladesh bowler informed of his target after returning with a match-winning four-wicket haul in first ODI of the three-match series against Sri Lanka at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Sunday. Miraz topped the bowling charts with his 4-30 as Bangladesh secured a convincing 33 runs victory to lead the series 1-0.
Chasing 258, Sri Lanka were restricted to 224 runs as Miraz wreak havoc on the opponent batting line-up. The right-arm spinner removed the Sri Lanka openers, Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Perera on 21 and 30 runs respectively and pierced into the middle order. He first removed Dhananjaya de Silva on nine and four overs later showed Ashen Bandara on three the way towards dressing room as the visitors were reeling on 102-6 at that stage.
Former @OfficialCSA cricketer Domingo had recently come under serious scrutiny due to the streak of below par performances of @BCBtigers teamhttps://t.co/5r7d3CowkU
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) May 23, 2021
Miraz also said the win came as a pressure release for Bangladesh team having dealt with a streak of defeats recently. Bangladesh registered their first win in 10 matches across all formats.
“We did not have any win since the West Indies [ODI] series. We were doing well in Tests but were not being able to win. So winning this game was important. We always play well in ODIs and this win has come easy as we performed as a team. My aim was to stop the batsmen from scoring runs so that they are forced to take chances. I tried to give as many dot balls as possible,” said Miraz to the media following the win on Sunday night.
Bangladesh, after winning the toss opted bat first and posted 257 riding on three half centuries. Captain and opener Tamim Iqbal added 52 from the top while Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah in the middle score 84 and 54 runs respectively. With the ball Miraz was well supported by pacers Mustafizur Rahman and Mohammad Saifuddin with three and two wickets respectively.
Also Read: Shakib reaches 1000 career wickets milestone
“We played some good cricket today [Sunday] overall. We were good in all departments. Tamim bhai got a good start, Mushfiq bhai batted well. We had lost two wickets in a row but Mushfiq bhai and Mahmudullah bhai got us back to the game from there. With the ball, we might have taken time to settle but it was a good effort from Mustafiz and Saifuddin in the middle overs to break into their batting line-up,” said Miraz.
“We won because we batted and bowled well overall. We would not have won the game if only one or two of us had performed,” he added.
