DHAKA, Jan 20, 2021 (BSS)- Bangladesh Captain Tamim Iqbal praised the team effort behind their facile six-wicket win over West Indies in the opening game of the three-match series at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium here today.
He said while the bowlers– both pacers and spinners– played their part well, the batsmen also batted sensibly in a difficult pitch to make sure Bangladesh would make a winning-start on their return to International cricket after a nine-month layoff due to Covid-19 pandemic.
“We bowled really well. The way Fizz (Mustafizur) started was very good. Rubel also started very well. The young guy, Hasan Mahmud, bowled really well. The spinners were also really good. Shakib and Mehidy also bowled really well,” Tamim said after the match.
Bangladesh was expected to achieve the victory with ease after bowling in experienced West Indies out for 122 in 32.5 overs.
But the victory didn’t come with ease as the scoreboard showed. At one phase, the Bangladeshi batsmen struggled for runs against the Caribbean spinners, who seemed to be on top of the game despite not being experienced enough.
Young leg-spinner Akeal Hosein who made his debut in this match, particularly troubled Bangladesh and eventually finished with 3-26.
At some point, it looked, if West Indies would have some more runs on the board, they could give it a shot for their victory.
Tamim, however, said it’s not the West Indian spinners, rather it was the pitch, which made the batting tougher one.
But he praised the batsmen to bat sensibly and sailed the side home without any fuss.
“It was a very difficult wicket to bat on. Even if you wanted to play aggressive shots, you couldn’t,” Tamim added.
“Initially when I saw the wicket, I thought it would play really good. There was no sun throughout the day, so you cannot blame anyone. On this kind of wicket, you can’t go in and swing your bat. I thought whoever batted, actually batted quite sensibly,” the captain remarked.