An inspired victory, with a record of double-century partnership between Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan, has paved the way for the Bangladesh national cricket team to revive themselves from the slump of straight losses in the Tests.
Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, the captain of Bangladesh’s ODI team, says it was not so hard to revitalise them. I just asked them to play with soul, he said.
Bangladesh began the ODI series with a 48-run win against West Indies in the opener on Sunday. The victory brought great relief to the dressing room after the team’s recent losses.
The Tigers have been struggling in their recent matches, being whitewashed by Afghanistan in T20s and then by the West Indies in Tests. Several controversial remarks by the BCB chief in Bangladesh, have also generated various reactions inside the team. The team’s resolve seemed to be waning.
But Mashrafe is a miracle worker and his words bolstered the team so that even their body language seemed different in Sunday’s game – a fact noted by the commentators during play.
After the match commentator Danny Morisson asked Mashrafe how he had performed the miracle. But the captain said that he had not done anything special.
“I didn’t say anything too remarkable. I only told them to lift their spirits and play for their country. What has happened [the Test series], has happened. This is a new series. If we start off well, everything will fall into place. That’s what happened today. Hopefully we can maintain this form.”
It was on this same field that Bangladesh had won in the Super 8 stage of the 2007 Cricket World Cup against top-ranking South Africa. Mashrafe still holds onto that memory and praised the heroes responsible for that historic victory.
“This wicket suits our style. Batting was a challenge at first, but Tamim and Shakib played spectacularly. They set the stage. And Mushi’s short innings at the end was extraordinary.”
Mashrafe has also received great acclaim for his fantastic bowling performance during the match. Although the illness of his wife had kept him from regular practice before the West Indies tour, it hardly seemed to affect his bowling as the skipper picked up four wickets dur
