Bangladesh left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed said the change from T20 to 50-over cricket wasn’t excessively overwhelming for him as he has a similar responsibility of working in the Power Play in both white-ball formats.
Bangladesh left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed said the change from T20 to 50-over cricket wasn’t excessively overwhelming for him as he has a similar responsibility of working in the Power Play in both white-ball formats.
Nasum, who played 22 T20Is before making his ODI debut, won a player of the match award in just his second game for his figures of 3 for 19 from his allotted 10 overs.
“I always bowled in the PowerPlay there (in the T20s) and it was the same as I came to bowl in the PowerPlay (in the ODI) and for me, both looks to be the same,”
Nasum told reporters on Thursday (July 14), when asked about the mental adjustments needed between the formats.
“My first plan is to ball dot balls and because most of the time I bowled in the PowerPlays and my game plan is (to see) how to stop the flow of the runs,”
he said.
“I got the wicket and for that, I am feeling good. I was disappointed that I could not pick wickets in the opening game but that faded away as I could pick wickets in the second game.”
As a left-arm spinner, Nasum will have to push for his place with the seasoned pair of Shakib al Hasan and Taijul Islam however he isn’t bothered by the competition. Shakib is missing from the series however picking Nasum over Taijul was a significant demonstration of confidence in his favor from the administration.
“I don’t have any competition with anyone. Taijul Bhai will play his game while I will play mine and at the end of the day whoever plays well will play. I am not having a competition with Taijul Bhai or Shakib Bhai. Among us whoever will play better will play and I feel performance is the same for everyone,”
Nasum said.
“All of the members of the team like me and all of them make fun of me and laugh at me but I have got a very good bonding with everyone. Tamim Bhai personally supports me a lot,”
he said.
Meanwhile, Head coach Russell Domingo said he was pleased that Nasum was reaping the rewards for his hard yards over the last year.
“I think Nasum’s control has always been good. He played a lot of T20s for us and he is a smart bowler. He hasn’t played a lot of One Day Internationals but he doesn’t give you much room and doesn’t bowl any bad balls and knows where to drag his leg back and know when to bowl a bit slower,”
Doming said.
“I think the most impressive thing of Nasum during the one and half year is that probably he was one of the worst fielders of our team I have seen and now turning out to be one of the best fielders of the team. He has come around leaps and bounds over the last one and a half years. I am just pleased with him. He is staying with us in the one-day team for quite a bit. Hasn’t got a game because Shakib was playing and we were playing Miraj and he comes in and he has taken his opportunity. He bowled fantastically well for us.
“He is putting his efforts. He is playing domestic cricket and he is playing DPL and BPL and he has up-skilled himself. I am pleased because he is getting rewards,”
he concluded.