Mahmudullah Riyad sorted out a vigorous 74 against Afghanistan rescuing Bangladesh from a plausible downfall.
Mahmudullah Riyad and Imrul Kayes stood tall in the middle when the team was languishing losing all five in the top order in a score of 87 on the board. The duo added 128 runs in the sixth wicket, during which Mahmudullah scripted his 20th one day international half century.
The crisis man – now this is what suitably termed beside his name, said, he enjoys batting under pressure as the strain squeezes strength from him.
He said, “Yes, I do enjoy being the crisis man. The pressure gives me the opportunity to get into my rhythm and give back to my team as well. Pressure will always be there and we just need to find out ways to handle it, that’s all.”
Under much hype of Afghan spinner Rashid Khan, the Bangladesh middle order batsman said he made conscious effort not to lose wickets against Rashid and keep the scoreboard ticking at the same time.
“I didn’t work 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. We all know that Rashid Khan is one of the best strike bowlers around the world. That does not mean however that he is unplayable,” Mahmudullah said.
“Maybe we couldn’t apply ourselves against him the way we wanted. In our partnership, our plan was to not give Rashid our wicket. We dug deep and we saw it through till the end,” he added.
In reply to Bangladesh’s 249 for 7 in 50 overs, Afghanistan innings was curtailed to 246 for 7 in 50 overs, credit goes to a superb last over vile from Mustafizur Rahman, who defended 7 runs off last six balls.
