Micromax ODI CUP – Bangladesh vs New Zealand
Tigers aim for galaxies beyond
The mood in the Tigers camp was understandably jubilant after an emphatic seven-wicket victory that gave them an unassailable 2-0 lead over New Zealand in the five-match series. But captain cool Shakib Al Hasan was his usual self, keeping his emotions well in check, with an eye on even bigger prizes against the Black Caps.
Monday’s achievements were a rare feat for Bangladesh cricket; consecutive victories over a top-class opponent has now created the opportunity for them to script perhaps their biggest success in one-day cricket.
The rain may have done them a favour in the nine-run win in the first match, but yesterday Shakib’s men dominated from the off and closed out the match in emphatic fashion. Initially the spinners wrapped up New Zealand for 173 and then Shahriar Nafees and Imrul Kayes put together a 127-run opening stand to ensure that the Tigers can now no longer lose the series.
But captain Shakib was in no mood for defensives.
“Now the 4-0 is very possible. We played good cricket in the last two games but we want to improve our performance in the next two games because there are lots of areas of improvements. We are capable of playing much better cricket and what I believe is that we are yet to play our best cricket in the series,” said the always-confident Shakib.
“Things will fall into place automatically if we can improve our performance,” he added.
Shakib particularly praised the effort of opener Shahriar Nafees, who smashed a run-a-ball 73 before he chipped Nathan McCullum to Brendon McCullum at mid-on, but he was dissatisfied with the way the two openers were dismissed to kill the chance of 10-wicket victory.
“We could have won the match more convincingly. A 10-wicket victory was very much possible after the way the two openers started. It was a good knock from Nafees as he punished every bad ball and most importantly he was positive in his innings. I don’t know what played in his mind but he could have easily make a hundred,” observed Shakib.
“As usual Imrul Kayes started cautiously and settled in nicely but frustratingly he also could not finish the game. We must focus on this area and should make sure we do not make same mistakes in the next games,” he continued.
Undoubtedly the brightest part in the second game was the performance of the slow bowlers led by left-arm spinner Sohrawardi Shuvo, who caused major damage in the New Zealand innings by taking three wickets for 14 runs in a miserly 10-over spell, but Shakib was not happy with the bowling during Powerplay as Ross Taylor smashed all over the park during his unbeaten 72-ball 62 that saw four sixes and three boundaries.
“The spinners did a good job especially Shuvo was exceptional after Shafiul (Islam) set the tone removing Brendon McCullum but we didn’t bowl well in the Powerplay. Our fielding was also good but not extraordinary, so we have to look at these areas,” said Shakib adding that this New Zealand side is inexperienced compared to the last one who visited in 2008.
To Shakib the most exciting aspect of his team is that it’s full of performers. While he himself was the hero in the first game there were numerous performers in the second game.
“You see so many players who performed in the match which is the main strength of this team. We play as a team and as an unit,” he said.
Things however could have been very different for Shakib if he had lost the match. The all-rounder had risked the ire of the watching thousands when he chose to field first under the conditions. But the win put to bed any such talk.
The question was however still raised and Shakib had his explanation: “What I thought was that the pacers might get a little help from the pitch as it had been covered for the last few days due to rain.”
