It was hard to score, says Tamim

It may be unusual to feel satisfied after scoring Bangladesh’s slowest century on record, but Tamim Iqbal can take consolation in being awarded ‘Player of the Match’. The Bangladeshi opener can also take pride in the fact that he kept fighting from the very beginning to the absolute end of the innings.

Tamim scored a record by completing his century in 146 balls during the first match against the West Indies on Sunday, the slowest in the one-day history of Bangladesh cricket. In truth, Tamim didn’t seem in form as he played the slowest innings over 80 runs in his career.

However, the steady knock would eventually pave the way to victory. Together with star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, he also broke the record for Bangladesh’s highest scoring partnership. With Shakib adopting his natural batting style at the other end, the duo scored 207 off 254 balls.

And Mushfiqur Rahim could end Bangladesh’s innings with a cracking 30 off 11 balls because Tamim and Shakib had laid the foundation.

After the match, Tamim said the batsmen had understood the wicket and followed it.

“Any innings is special when the team wins, especially when the wicket was not easy on the bat. We had to work hard to make a solid base for victory. The wicket was very tough until the 25th over. The ball was turning, favouring the pacers. But we all decided to play steadily without looking at the scoreboard.”

Tamim also had particular praise for captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza for his bowling and impeccable leadership.

“We have achieved our goal. To be honest, we got 20 more runs than our goal because of Mushfiqur’s cameo; he gave us a great innings. Shakib played incredibly well. I had to work hard to get the runs.”