Our target was to hold the innings together and spend time on the wicket – Afif Hossain
Bangladesh sealed their first victory of the ODI series opener to answer all the questions of the opposition against Afghanistan at Chattogram on Wednesday (February 23).
Before the start of series, there were questions raised on Bangladesh’s approach against the most popular trio of Afghanistan spin; Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman.
There were also discussions being raised on the concerns to fill up the positions of star Bangladesh players; Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah.
Although, the above discussed players are in strong position but there general discussions raising concerns that if there is enough talent in the young generation to replace the senior group once they retire.
On Wednesday, Bangladesh sealed their first victory of the ODI series opener to answer all the questions of the opposition against Afghanistan at Chattogram on Wednesday (February 23).
After the hosts stunningly reduced to 45/6 with all senior players back in the dugout, the result appeared to be predictable for the conclusion. However, Bangladesh’s Afif Hossain and Mehidy Hasan had other ideas in their minds as they joined hands together to march onto Afghanistan for a historic rescue effort and saved their side of an embarrassment.
The duo not only rejected the most popular trio of Afghanistan but also chased down the total that was impossible at a time, without any participation of the seniors.
Afif, who has been given the role at number seven position in the ODIs, could never make an impact until this match. In the ODIs opener, the left-hander scored an unbeaten 93 to take his side home. While he batted at one end, Mehidy contributed from the other end as both the batters put a 174 runs stand for seventh wicket.
“Specific plan was to play normal cricket against their spin trio and not give away wicket to them,”
Afif said after the game.
“After completing their (spinners) bowling quota, there would have been five overs left and even If we needed 30 or 50 runs in the last five overs our plan was that we can give a try but firstly we had to make sure that we did not give away our wickets to the trio.
“After losing six wickets our target was to hold the innings together and spend time on the wicket as much as we can. During the whole innings we never spoke about winning the game we just said that we won’t give our wickets and in the end we played our natural game.”
Afif also lauded his batting partner Mehidy, who finished unbeaten on 81 and mentioned that he had helped him immensely during their stand.
“Miraz (Mehidy) bhai batted really well. He struck some useful boundaries after some dot balls and that released the pressure,”
he pointed out.
“Usually I don’t get a big opportunity to play a big knock. So today I got an opportunity and just utilized it. I never have many plans when I bat at the crease. I just plan ball by ball. Today’s innings is definitely better because it was made against world class bowlers. I had to handle them with lot of calculation,”
he said.