Pilot the ultimate hero

Mohammedan skipper Khaled Mashud Pilot thanked his luck after he sealed a last-ball thriller to help his side regain the Dhaka Primer League title with a Three-wicket win against Abahani.
Mashud came to the crease only to face the last ball in which Mohammedan needed a boundary to win the match and the trophy. Mashud got a top-edge that bewildered the Abahani fielders to race for a four.
‘In cricket some time you have to be lucky as well. I was confident that I could do it. But it came through the other way,’ said the wicketkeeper, who has now led the three different teams – Abahani, Victoria and Mohammedan – to league titles.
‘I must say this was one of the exciting matches that I have played so far in my career. I haven’t seen such a close Mohammedan-Abahani matches in the recent years,’ said Mashud, who ranked his match-winning four just after his six in the last over of the ICC trophy final.
‘The six that I struck in the ICC trophy final was most important. But you can say this boundary is right after that,’ said Mashud, the long-standing former wicketkeeper of the national team.
Mashud hailed Mahmudullah and Foysal Hossain for their match-winning partnership of 115 runs and also heavily praised Rana Naved-ul Hasan, who played crucial a knock of 29 off 17 balls.
‘That partnership was the real turning point of the game. When Ashraful got out we thought maybe the match was slipping out of our grip. But Riyad [Mahmudullah] and Foysal batted brilliantly,’ Mashud said.
‘Again when Riyad was out, I became confused. But Naved brought us back in the match,’ he added.
Man-of-the-match Naved, who had accumulated only 39 runs in his previous six matches, said he never felt short of confidence even when Mohammedan needed 34 off 12 balls.
‘I knew I can do this. I just wanted to connect the ball with the middle of my bat,’ said Naved.
Asked if he was happy to see a spinner bowling the last over, Naved said it did not make any difference.
‘Rafique [who bowled the last over] is a good spinner. So it was not an easy job. I am happy I connected two balls very well which went for sixes,’ he said.
Abahani skipper Sakib al Hasan, who had a poor day with the bat and ball making just one run and conceding 54 runs in his 10 overs for no wicket, did not appear before the media.
He was at the receiving end of all criticism by the Abahani officials and supporters, who was also unhappy with the way he handled the team on the field. He completed the quota of seam bolwers before the final over and his field set-up for the last ball was also shocking to them.
‘We allowed too many singles when Riyad came to the crease. It took the pressure off Mohammedan. Also we should have been tricky in our field setting at the dying stage,’ lamented Abahani coach Sarwar Imran