Mehidy shines with big palm
|| CF Correspondent ||
Bangladesh off-spinner Mehidy Hasan picked up a career-best four-wicket haul against West Indies in the series deciding third ODI, showcasing his caliber in the 50-over format at Sylhet on Friday.
Mehidy’s inception was like a storm in Bangladesh Cricket but as success always creates some peculiar lacking, the question was raised whether he is as capable of picking wickets in shorter versions as he does in Tests.
The 21-year-old had often been regarded as a Test cricket prospect largely due to his heroics in the longer version but the way he responded in the third game of the ODI series only indicated he is maturing with time and like any other good sportsman Mehidy is not only fulfilling his lacking but is also retaining his strength.
Mehidy’s 4/29 restricted West Indies to only 198 for 9 in the decisive third ODI against Bangladesh as he engineered a mid-innings batting collapse from which the visitors never recovered.
The success may come as a consequence of team’s cause as the all-rounder is endowed with the duty of opening the bowling innings on most occasions and his primary focus seems to be containing the batsmen.
His career economy rate of 4.28, lowest among the Bangladesh bowlers, who have played at least four ODIs since his debut, proves he has been doing the job properly.
It was of little surprise that Bangladesh opted to bowl on a dry wicket and Mehidy bowled eight overs on the trot, and sent back Chandrapaul Hemraj and Darren Bravo in his prolonged spell, giving little away as the Caribbean team made a slow start.
Hope, however, once again, led Windies' hope of posting a good total for almost the entire innings, but some reckless shots at the other end, kept the partnerships at bay, with Hope constantly in pursuit of building partnerships from his end.
What the failure of the other batsmen also did, was upping the significance of his innings that spanned 131 balls with another class act, continuing from where he left off in the second ODI.
After Mehidy was reintroduced, the right-arm off-spinner scalped two of the three wickets, the other one being taken by Saifuddin as he dismissed Marlon Samuels, and it prompted a mini-collapse, with West Indies slipping from 96 for 2 in the 23rd over to 99 for 5 in the span of 22 balls.
Mehidy removed his bunny Shimron Hetmyer, whom he has now dismissed six times in seven innings during West Indies’ ongoing tour. Hetmyer ended the ODI series with 20 runs from three knocks, a stark contrast from his sparkling batting in the two Tests.
Rovman Powell's wretched tour of the subcontinent ended when Mehidy had him caught behind. Powell made just 16 runs in three innings here, adding to his 61 runs in the five ODIs in India earlier.
Bangladesh spin coach Sunil Joshi remains optimistic with Mehidy’s promise and believes his big palm gives him an edge over others in the 50-over format as well.
“We've seen Miraz playing in all three formats. You've got to credit him because he is such a great bowler,” Joshi told Cricfrenzy prior to the series.
“Look at Mehidy's palm... his fingers are so big. That's a great advantage; God's gift I would say. Not many spinners in the world these days have long fingers.
“Mehidy is an Asian product – a Bangladeshi product. Because of his fingers and hand, he generates over-spin. In Test cricket, you need both side-spin and over-spin. From that point of view, Mehidy is a difficult bowler to deal with,” he said.
