Bangladesh pulled off a stunning victory in the first Test against Australia in Mirpur and one of the reasons for the victory was the superlative effort of the opening batsman Tamim Iqbal. The left-hander scored half-centuries in both the innings on a surface where most other batsmen failed. Tamim Iqbal credits MS Dhoni for his recent success
His scores of 78 and 71 in the first and second innings respectively laid the foundation for the side to defeat the mighty Aussies. Chasing 265 to win in the last innings, the Australian batsmen surrendered to the Bangladeshi spinners and fell short by 20 runs.
Tamim Iqbal revealed how the Indian wicketkeeper MS Dhoni inspired him. The opening batsman said he learnt the tricks to stay calm during adverse situations from the Indian maestro.
“I read an interview of MS Dhoni in which he said that Cricket is a very brutal game. When you are out of form and aren’t getting the runs everything will start acting brutally. You would meet the best bowler in the crease. You would play a great shot but would find it unfortunately in the hand of opponent’s fielder. Even the worst fielder of opponent would take a one handed catch. That’s why in my tough time I just tried to keep patience and avoid the expensive mistakes,” said Tamim about Dhoni.
A golden chance for Bangladesh
The second Test between Bangladesh and Australia will be played on September 4 in Chittagong. The pitch there is expected to be similar as the one in Dhaka. The visitors will once again face a stern test of the spinners of the Asian side.
After enforcing a thumping win in the first Test, the Mushfiqur Rahim-led side has a great opportunity to further elongate the history by winning in Chittagong too. This may never arrive again in the history of Bangladesh cricket again and hence, they will leave no stones unturned in pouncing on the opportunity.