ZCZC
BSP-19
CRICKET-SAIFUDDIN-CONTROVERSY
Controversy motivates Saifuddin to silence critics
DHAKA, July 3, 2019 (BSS) – Despite a brilliant efforts Mohammad Saifuddin couldn’t win the ‘do or die’ match against India of his own but he took the team closer to win when Tigers looked like heading for a big defeat.
Saifuddin’s 38 ball-51 not out was the reason that the margin of the loss was just 28 runs and gave India some headache when they were supposed to win it with ease.
India managed 314-9 after opting to bat first and on an increasingly deteriorating pitch, the target was an uphill task to achieve. But Saifuddin’s attacking batting, defying the pitch equation, took Bangladesh closer. He couldn’t win the match eventually but his performance was praised hugely.
It is widely believed if anyone could accompany him towards the end, Saifuddin could win the match for Bangladesh.
Saifuddin however revealed controversy surrounding him some days ago motivated him to come with goods in the crucial match.
He said was eagerly waiting to answer his critics who labeled him as a cricketer with big-match phobia.
Saifuddin became the talking point of Bangladesh team just ahead of the game against Australia when it was reported that he over played his injury to avoid the game against Australia.
He made him unavailable against Australia due to back pain that he sustained during their previous game against West Indies.
According to the reports he neither called the physio after his so-called injury nor did he opt to leave the field for immediate medication as that is expected to be the case in normal circumstances.
Instead he bowled seven overs after sustaining the injury and some senior members were clearly unhappy with the entire episode as they believed he was not in state that he needed to be rested.
”It hurts. Few days ago, there was a rumor about me that I don’t want to play against the big teams because of the fear and for this I give flimsy excuses,” said Saifuddin.
”This controversy heated me up, I wanted to win match on my own against a big team and wanted to be the hero. This thought came into my mind from the first ball to last ball that faced against India, I wanted to win the match. So that, I can prove this rumors wrong. For this, I tried from the first ball till the last ball. But unfortunately it didn’t happen,” he said.
”We players have nothing to do other than this. We have to give answers of everything on the field. Other than this, we don’t have any way to give our answers. So, we try to give all the answers by our performance on the field,” he added.
”I had a lot of desire to win this match for my team. It was like a “sky falling down over my head” type of feeling. It’s natural to feel bad in this type of situation because we are out of the World Cup,” he said.
”Before today’s match we thought we could make it to the semifinal if you win these two matches. It’s very natural, if any other player was in my position, he would have felt sad too,” he concluded.
BSS/SMP/SMM/1735 hrs