Mehidy Hasan Miraz explains his cautious approach during his 74-run knock against West Indies, guiding Bangladesh to a challenging total.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz On His Anchor Role
Bangladesh’s captain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, recently reflected on his 75-run knock during the ODI against West Indies.
Batting at no.4, he took on the role of an anchor. He guided the team through a crucial phase.
Miraz faced criticism for his strike rate but explained that his primary goal was to stabilise the Innings. Especially after the early fall of wickets.
Miraz came to bat when Bangladesh was in trouble at 46/2 in the 8th over. He faced a challenging situation but remained composed. Despite scoring 74 runs from 101 balls, his cautious approach was aimed at building partnership.
“The century was not an issue for me and all I needed was to take the team to a good place. I tried to play for runs and put up a good score before 40 overs because I was feeling that in this wicket if we could post 300 plus it would have been good for us and that is the reason I played for runs,” Mehidy said after West Indies put an end to a losing streak of 11 ODIs against Bangladesh.
Batting Unit Positive Display
Miraz also praised the batting Unit for their collective effort. While the top order fell including Tanzid Hasan and Alif Hossain, Mahmudullah and Jaker Ali’s partnership helped Bangladesh set a competitive target of 295.
“Look when I started, a set batsman got out and in fact two set batters got out as Tanzim was out and after doing a partnership Afif also I could not take risk because I knew if a set batsman gets out, it will be a pressure for the new batsman and so I tried to continue. And when Riyad [Mahmudullah] bhai got set I tried to take the charge.
Miraz credited the team’s efforts despite losing wickets at regular intervals. He emphasized that without the late contributions of Mahmudullah and Jaker Ali, the total could have been much lower.
“The way Jaker Ali and Riyad bhai finished was brilliant and if that was not the case the runs could [have been] lesser but we played well as a batting unit.”
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Bowling Lapses Cost Bangladesh
While the batting had its moments, Miraz was also critical of his bowlers. They were unable to maintain pressure in the middle overs.
After an early breakthrough, the bowlers last their rhythm, allowing West Indies to chase down the target.
Miraz remarked, “Batting wise we batted well and put up a good total and our bowlers also started well but in the middle overs, they did a partnership and we could not get wickets and that middle-over partnership put us in the back foot.”
Despite the loss, Miraz believes that there are positives to take from the game.
“Our bowlers did well in the first half [of the chase] as the game was in our control for first 25 to 30 overs and they took the game away from us in the last 20 overs when they charged, but still I feel we have lot of positives… like our batsmen did well and bowlers bowled well initially and we could have won the game if we could improve on certain areas,” he added.
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