Possessing a big heart, playing with freedom and being sensible when executing skills were key for Bangladesh to shape as a good T20I team despite being a lower-ranked side in the table, said Bangladesh T20I captain Mahmudullah.
The experienced campaigner expressed words of wisdom following Bangladesh’s historic maiden series win against visitors Australia Friday.
Hosts Bangladesh registered a 10-run win over Australia in the third match of the five-T20I series at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, and secure the series with an unassailable 3-0 lead.
The series win was the second in a row for Bangladesh having won also the one during their tour of Zimbabwe last month.
Bangladesh opted to bat first in the game and labored to 127 runs on a typical Mirpur surface.
Mahmudullah, the man of the match, anchored the innings with a hardworking 53-ball 52 amid regular fall of wickets on the other end.
The middle-order batsman had also pulled up an innings-recovering partnership of 44 with Shakib al Hasan [26] for the third wicket after early dismissals of the openers.
Defending the small total, there were moments when the balance was in favor of Australia.
But moments were snatched away every time by local bowling unit, on the night starring left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman.
“We had a chat in Zimbabwe when we finished the T20 games. We had a chat that we need to step up because we feel that we are a very good side, though the ranking doesn’t show that we are a good team at the moment. But we always feel that we are a good balanced side. We just need to have a big heart, play with freedom and be sensible when executing our skills,” said Mahmudullah at the post-match presentation Friday.
Mustafizur finished as the most valuable player of the game.
He remained wicketless but made the biggest impact with his outstanding economic spell giving away only nine runs in his four overs.
Perhaps he had nailed it for Bangladesh in the 19th over.
Australia needed 23 from the last 12 balls and Mustafizur in the pressure situation conceded only one run in the over, leaving 22 needed for the visitors to chase in the last over.
Young left-arm pacer Shariful Islam finished with two wickets while spinner Shakib and Nasum Ahmed picked one scalp each.
“I wanted Shakib to have a chat when we were about to go to the field. Shakib told that no matter what happens, it will be hard to bowl, get couple of early wickets and get the run rate to eight or nine runs so that we can have a chance. But in the end Mustafizur did a brilliant job, Shariful chipped in. All the bowlers did their homework and execution well. But Mustafizur was outstanding,” said Mahmudullah.
“It wasn’t a 150 wicket. When Shakib and I were batting we were thinking that either one of us has to go through to the 16th or 17th over. One set batter has to be there as for a new batter it becomes tough because the ball was slowing up quite a bit and they were using the condition quite well. I think bowlers did their job very well. A lot of cutters and a lot of slower balls were perfect according to the condition. So that’s what matters. We were really focusing on our process and we held it together,” the Bangladesh T20I captain added.
Despite clinching the series, Bangladesh will try to carry the momentum when they take on the tourists in the fourth game of the series Saturday at the same venue.
