POBNEWS24, Dhaka, Dec 5, 2022 : Bangladesh captain Liton Das showered Mehidy Hasan Miraz with enormous praise after the allrounder held his nerve to steer the home side to the unlikely one-wicket victory against mighty India, staring down a deficit of 51 runs with one wicket in hand.
He said it’s a victory to savour for years as it came at a moment when a few hoped for a victory of Bangladesh.
“I was very nervous sitting in the dressing room. I enjoyed Mehidy’s batting in the last 6-7 overs,” Liton who was appointed captain for this series due to the groin injury of regular skipper Tamim Iqbal said here today.
After bowling India out for paltry 186, thanks to a bowling masterclass of Shakib Al Hasan, everyone expected an easy victory for Bangladesh.
Despite losing opener Najmul Hossain Shanto in the first ball of the innings, Bangladesh got going well thanks to Liton and Shakib Al Hasan.
Liton was dismissed after scoring team high 41 while Shakib was removed for 29. After their departure, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur made the task tougher for Bangladesh, stifling the innings with calculative aggression.
“Siraj and Shardul bowled very well in the middle overs and shifted the momentum towards their side. When me and Shakib were batting we thought we could chase this easily, but it got difficult after we both got out and India bowled really well. However it was an outstanding innings from Mehidy.”
India captain Rohit Sharma was frustrated after losing a match, coming so close to win it. They could have won it, had KL Rahul not dropped the catch of Mehidy when Bangladesh were still 32 runs away from the victory.
“It was a very close game. We did pretty well to comeback into that position. We didn’t bat well. 186 wasn’t good enough, but we bowled pretty well and they held their nerve in the end. If you look back how we bowled right from ball one – of course we would have loved to bowl better at the end – but we bowled pretty well for 40 overs and took wickets. We just didn’t have enough runs,” Rohit said.
“Another 25-30 runs would have helped. We were looking at 240-250 after the 25-over mark. When you keep losing wickets it is difficult. We need to learn and understand how to play on such wickets. No excuses for us because we are used to these wickets. I don’t really know how much they can improve in a couple of practice sessions. I feel the genes are there and it’s only about handling pressure. I am sure these guys will learn and we look forward to the next game. Hopefully we can change things around. We know exactly what we need to do in these conditions.”
