IND v BAN | Nothing like beating India in India, admits Mushfiqur Rahim
Mushfiqur Rahim has admitted that there is nothing quite like beating India on their home turf after registering a seven-wicket win in the first of three T20Is in Delhi. For leading his side to a first-ever T20 win over India with an unbeaten 60 off 43 balls, Rahim was adjudged the Man of the Match.
Something about playing India makes 32-year-old Rahim tick and the stats confirm it. He averages significantly higher against the Men in Blue than any other opponent. On Sunday, his team was 54 for two and had just lost the wicket of debutant opener Mohammad Naim in the eighth over when he walked into bat. By the time he’d hit the fourth consecutive boundary off Khaleel Ahmed in the penultimate over the match, the result was sealed in his team’s favour. And Rahim loved every bit of playing the anchor role in front of a packed house at the Arun Jaitley Stadium and leading his country home.
“When we were playing in front of a huge crowd, and when the team needs it, nothing like playing an innings like that. Nothing like beating India in India, so this means a lot to me. I'm trying my best to evolve as a cricketer, and I will try to perform in each and every game for Bangladesh,” Rahim said at the post-match presentation, reported Cricbuzz.
He further revealed that the plan between him and Soumya Sarkar, who himself made a decent contribution of 39, was to take the game deep.
“Soumya and I had a chat, and we thought of dragging the game deep, and any of the quicks could have been targeted for 15-20 in an over because the spinners got a lot of assistance so it was hard to hit them. Naim also played really well at the start,” Rahim said.
Meanwhile, Sarkar was overjoyed having helped get the better of their neighbours for the first time in nine attempts in the shortest format of the game and that too in the absence of star players like Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan.
“We are all happy as it was our first T20I win against India. 140 was a good total and they bowled well, but we managed to get over the line. We were not nervous. We were cool, calm and positive of chasing the target down. We miss Tamim and Shakib but the rest of the XI had a positive mindset,” Sarkar said.
