Man-of-the-match in the second ODI between Bangladesh and New Zealand Sohag Gazi spoke brightly about Bangladesh’s progress and prospects after the Tigers snatched their sixth successive win and second consecutive series win over the Kiwis yesterday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.
“If you look into board, I am sure you will see that there are many performers in the team now. The key to our success is that everyone is playing their role brilliantly and hence, it an all-round team effort. For instance, if you see Rubel’s performance in the first ODI, he was the one who got us the win because he did his job well. So it is the team effort and of course the confidence of good results in recent times keeps us motivated in the game,” Sohag declared at the post-match media conference.
2-0 up with one game to play not only give Bangladesh the series but gives them the chance of duplicating the whitewash victory they achieved over the same opposition three years ago. Sohag however, claimed the team was focusing on moment-to-moment cricket rather than a final result.
“We had planned to take the series game by game so that we don’t come under pressure. We would love to whitewash them (New Zealand) but don’t want to get carried away with that aim. Our aim is to play like we did in the first two games,” said the off-spinner.
Commenting on the absence of star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan – who was ruled out of the ODI series due to dengue fever – Sohag said, “Not having him (Shakib) was a huge loss for the team but we never took pressure for that. We didn’t allow his absence to haunt us, rather we tried to do what he might have done as a spinner or as a batsman.”
While Bangladesh’s players were happy, New Zealand’s stars tried to reconcile losing to what is considered a weaker team.
“Lack of partnerships cost us the game,” said New Zealand seamer Kyle Mills after the game. “Corey (Anderson) and Ross (Taylor) did reconcile us of losing early wicket in the game but I believe Bangladesh getting the breakthrough of that partnership put them ahead of us.”
Looking ahead to the last ODI, Mills said, “The challenge will be tough given that we are down by two games. However, it will be a new ground and a new game – a big game to be particular. Hopfully the team will be able to regroup and get a win.”
