Bangladesh opener Liton Das expressed relief after scoring big in the opening match of the three-ODI series against hosts Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club Friday.
Zimbabwe bowlers bowled really well in the first hour of the match as Bangladesh lost four top-order wickets within 20 overs with the score just 76.
But Liton held his nerve from one end and his brilliant 102-run innings off 114 deliveries helped Bangladesh to post a challenging 276 in 50 overs.
“The batting condition early was a bit tough. And they bowled really well. I felt pressure initially as I did not score that much in my last few ODIs. So initially it was tough for me. Particularly when I saw that regular wickets were falling at the other end. So it added a little bit of pressure,” Liton said during the post-match press conference.
“But I tried to keep focus and stay at the wicket. Initially there were a lot of dot balls. But we hung in there and played our shots later which worked for us.”
Liton was struggling with injury in recent times as the right-hander missed a major part of the domestic T20 competition while playing for Abaahani Limited last month.
Friday's well crafted century will certainly give the wicketkeeper-batsman immense confidence in the remainder of the tour.
“I did not play in the last ODI against Sri Lanka back at home because I had an injury (wrist) problem. Later I was not able to play maximum matches in BPL T20. I missed 11 games there. Later I played five games and was trying to get back into my rhythm,” said Liton.
“Then I played the Test match and I think I batted well there. Before (Friday's) game my target was to bat for a long period of time.
“The message from the team was, someone from the top five has to bat until 40 overs. So my target was to bat at least 35-40 overs and it went well.”
While Liton led Tigers with the bat, Shakib al Hasan produced some great spells in the later stage of the match to bowl out Zimbabwe for just 121 in 28.5 overs.
Man of the match Liton gave full credit to Shakib and also congratulated him for becoming the highest wicket taker for Bangladesh in ODIs.
“Shakib bhai is a world class bowler. Everyone knows it. He gets help from the wicket which helps spinners, even he gets help from the wicket which is not that much helpful for spinners. That’s one of his specialties. He has a lot of variation in his bowling. It’s a good sign for our team, that he is getting wickets even in pace bowling friendly wicket.,” Liton concluded.
