Bangladesh wicket-keeper Nurul Hasan was at the center of attention during the nail-biter against India at Adelaide Oval in the Twenty20 World Cup 2022 Wednesday.
Right-handed batter Nurul went to the middle with Bangladesh needing another 51 runs in 25 balls with six wickets in hand chasing a revised total on 151 in 16 overs in a rain-interrupted game.
Nurul remained in the middle till the last ball of the innings alongside Taskin Ahmed.
The duo, with Nurul on the driving seat, added 37 off 19 for the seventh wicket but the effort fell short by five runs [Duckworth/Lewis method].
Bangladesh needed 20 runs in the last over which Nurul took close, hitting a six and a four. Nurul was unbeaten on 25 off 14 with Taskin not out on 12 off seven.
Bangladesh earlier made a flying start to the 185-run chase with Liton Das leading the charge with his rampaging strokeplay.
Bangladesh had posted 66 in seven overs without loss before the rain interruption.
“It was a close game. We [Nurul and Taskin] were confident that we will be able to chase it down in the last over but we were short of a boundary. We had a good momentum to start the chase but lost it to the rain. It was unfortunate we lost the game,” said Nurul while speaking to the media at the ICC mix zone in Adelaide.
Nurul informed that the the batters took extra risks to meet the asking rate, which was more than nine runs when the game resumed following rain delay.
The stumper-batter however, admitted that calculations had gone wrong, resulting in wrong shot selections.
“There is no way but to take risks when you need nine or 10 runs in an over. We tried to take that risk. Everyone tried to be calculative but the situation in the middle doesn't always support you. Your calculations will not always work,” said Nurul.
With two defeats in four games, Bangladesh to remain in contention for a semi-final spot have no option but to win their last game in the phase, against Pakistan, at the same venue this Sunday.
They also need to hope that India and South Africa lose the remainder of their games.
