Mahmudullah believes the experience of Imrul Kayes was invaluable
Photo - ACC
|| Desk Report ||
The experience of Imrul Kayes was invaluable against Afghanistan as that changed the complexion of the match, said Mahmudullah on Sunday.
Bangladesh defeated Afghanistan by three runs to stay alive in the Asia Cup as they restricted Afghanistan to 246-7 after posting 249-7 to win a thriller.
After surviving two mini collapses in their batting, Mahmudullah struck 74 off 81 while Imrul Kayes scored an unbeaten 72 off 89 balls to help the Tigers post a fighting total on the score board.
Bangladesh’s innings halted twice in the game after they elected to bat first as two early wickets and two unexpected run outs of Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim in the middle overs held the Tigers to 87-5 in the 21st over.
Mahmudullah and Imrul Kayes put up a 128-run stand for the sixth wicket, the highest sixth wicket stand for Bangladesh in ODIs, to lift team when another low-scoring total was looming.
Mahmudullah completed his 20th ODI fifty while Imrul, who got a surprise late call-up for the tournament, played the role of an anchor.
“Of course there was a special plan because Imrul[Kayes] is an experienced player and we needed to use that experience,” Mahmudullah told reporters at the post match press conference on Sunday.
“Imrul flew in yesterday [Saturday] and played such an outstanding innings. It feels very good and I hope he continues. It was very pleasing to me because Imrul had never batted at six. Being a top-order batsman and playing such an innings was quite outstanding,” he concluded.
Mahmudullah said that he and Imrul decided not to lose their head against Rashid Khan and that eventually paid off in the long run.
“We all know that Rashid Khan is one of the strike bowlers around the world. That does not mean however that he is unplayable,” said Mahmudullah.
‘’Maybe we couldn't apply ourselves against him the way we wanted. In our [Mahmudullah and Imrul Kayes’s 128-run sixth-wicket] partnership, our plan was to not give Rashid our wicket. We dug deep and we saw it through till the end,” he said adding that he did not take any extra lesson for the Afghanistan mystery man.
“I didn't do too much [on his variations]. We played three times in four days, so there wasn't much time to think. I was just playing with an empty mind,” he concluded.
