Century win in ODI beckons Bangladesh

As it was predicted, the long gap from the international cricket kept Bangladesh somewhat shaky before a display of fine death bowling and some shrewd captaincy from Mashrafe Bin Mortaza bailed the side out from ultimate shamble against ICC associates Afghanistan.

The victory however came with added bonus as players like Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza achieved some individual milestone. Shakib became the only player in the world to be his country’s highest wicket-taker in all three formats while Tamim Iqbal became the first Bangladeshi player to score 9000 international runs. Mashrafe on the other hand became the most successful captain of Bangladesh to surpass Habibul Bashar Sumon’s victory in 30 matches. In all format of the cricket, it was Mashrafe’s 31st victory, what turned out to be Bangladesh’s 99th victory.
While Bangladesh shook off the rustiness from the long international break with a hard-fought seven run victory in the first game, history beckons them ahead of the second game. One more victory would not only confirm their sixth straight series victory at home but also give them the 100 ODI victories.
After making debut in one-day International cricket in 1986 with the match against Pakistan, Bangladesh however so far played 313 ODIs in which they registered 99 wins. They lost 210 matches while four matches were washed out. Bangladesh’s first ODI victory came in 23 ODIs against Kenya in 1998 under the captaincy of current head of cricket operations Akram Khan. They then registered two wins in 1999 World Cup—against Scotland and Pakistan—the first time they beat any Test nation. After then a prolonged failure they came back to winning way with an eight-run win over Zimbabwe under the captaincy of Habibul Bashar Sumon. Bangladesh then started winning the matches sporadically before Mashrafe Bin Mortaza instilled a belief that they could win it regularly. Bangladesh’s 50th win however came against Zimbabwe in 2009.
Their highest score in ODI came against Pakistan in the last year as they amassed 329 for six. The lowest 58 runs came against West Indies and India in 2011 and 2014. Tamim’s 154 against Zimbabwe in 2010 2009 remains the highest individual score while Mashrafe and Rubel Hossain’s 6 for 26 against Kenya in 2004 and against New Zealand in 2013 are joint best bowling figure for the country. Apart from the duo, only Mustafizur has got six-for in ODI cricket for Bangladesh.
As Bangladesh stands on the brink of a history, what is imperative for Bangladesh to raise their game in all departments. While the batting couldn’t live up to the expectation, the bowling was also wayward initially before they came back in the death overs. The fielding was also not up to the mark.
Bangladesh senior player Mahmudullah Riyad however believed that they couldn’t afford to have done same mistakes again because the Afghanistan showed what they are capable of.
“Afghanistan is a very good side. But I think if we play our best cricket, we can win it comparatively ease. Since it is the first series that we are playing after 10 months gap, we’ll concentrate on to comeback strongly and concentrate on to confirm the series first,” he said yesterday.
“Fielding wasn’t up to the mark. We have done some fielding drill today to make it sharper. We were at least 20/25 runs short. It was a good wicket and we could have scored 280 plus. I think I should carry the innings because I was set. We have to be more careful in the second match.”
But what satisfied Riyad was to win the match from the jaw of the defeat. He said, it showed their character of not giving up any hopes even in the worst moment.
“We have lost such close matches in the past. Also we could loss it yesterday but now we are a changed side. I hope we can continue this and win crucial moments when it matters most.”

Century win in ODI beckons Bangladesh

As it was predicted, the long gap from the international cricket kept Bangladesh somewhat shaky before a display of fine death bowling and some shrewd captaincy from Mashrafe Bin Mortaza bailed the side out from ultimate shamble against ICC associates Afghanistan. The victory however came with added bonus as players like Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza achieved some individual milestone. Shakib became the only player in the world to be his countrys highest wicket-taker in all three formats while Tamim Iqbal became the first Bangladeshi player to score 9000 international runs. Mashrafe on the other hand became the most successful captain of Bangladesh to surpass Habibul Bashar Sumons victory in 30 matches. In all format of the cricket, it was Mashrafes 31st victory, what turned out to be Bangladeshs 99th victory. While Bangladesh shook off the rustiness from the long international break with a hard-fought seven run victory in the first game, history beckons them ahead of the second game. One more victory would not only confirm their sixth straight series victory at home but also give them the 100 ODI victories. After making debut in one-day International cricket in 1986 with the match against Pakistan, Bangladesh however so far played 313 ODIs in which they registered 99 wins. They lost 210 matches while four matches were washed out. Bangladeshs first ODI victory came in 23 ODIs against Kenya in 1998 under the captaincy of current head of cricket operations Akram Khan. They then registered two wins in 1999 World Cupagainst Scotland and Pakistanthe first time they beat any Test nation. After then a prolonged failure they came back to winning way with an eight-run win over Zimbabwe under the captaincy of Habibul Bashar Sumon. Bangladesh then started winning the matches sporadically before Mashrafe Bin Mortaza instilled a belief that they could win it regularly. Bangladeshs 50th win however came against Zimbabwe in 2009. Their highest score in ODI came against Pakistan in the last year as they amassed 329 for six. The lowest 58 runs came against West Indies and India in 2011 and 2014. Tamims 154 against Zimbabwe in 2010 2009 remains the highest individual score while Mashrafe and Rubel Hossains 6 for 26 against Kenya in 2004 and against New Zealand in 2013 are joint best bowling figure for the country. Apart from the duo, only Mustafizur has got six-for in ODI cricket for Bangladesh. As Bangladesh stands on the brink of a history, what is imperative for Bangladesh to raise their game in all departments. While the batting couldnt live up to the expectation, the bowling was also wayward initially before they came back in the death overs. The fielding was also not up to the mark. Bangladesh senior player Mahmudullah Riyad however believed that they couldnt afford to have done same mistakes again because the Afghanistan showed what they are capable of. Afghanistan is a very good side. But I think if we play our best cricket, we can win it comparatively ease. Since it is the first series that we are playing after 10 months gap, well concentrate on to comeback strongly and concentrate on to confirm the series first, he said yesterday. Fielding wasnt up to the mark. We have done some fielding drill today to make it sharper. We were at least 20/25 runs short. It was a good wicket and we could have scored 280 plus. I think I should carry the innings because I was set. We have to be more careful in the second match. But what satisfied Riyad was to win the match from the jaw of the defeat. He said, it showed their character of not giving up any hopes even in the worst moment. We have lost such close matches in the past. Also we could loss it yesterday but now we are a changed side. I hope we can continue this and win crucial moments when it matters most.