Tamim lauds brand new ‘Solid’ pace attack

|| CF DESK ||

Bangladesh winning captain Tamim Iqbal lauded Tigers new ‘Solid’ pace attack after a record 10 wickets victory against Ireland in the third and last ODI at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium Thursday.

Opening pair Tamim and Litton Das helped the Tigers cruise to victory with 221 balls to spare after a brilliant performance by the Bangladesh pacers, who for the first time in an ODI took all 10 wickets to see the Irish dismissed for 101 in 28.1 overs.

In terms of the number of balls still in play, this victory ranks second for Bangladesh. The largest victory for Bangladesh in terms of balls remaining came in 2009 in Chattogram when they defeated Zimbabwe by six wickets with 229 balls remaining.

“The way we played the whole series was very nice. The performances with the bat in the first two balls, we haven't done before. Now I can proudly say we have a solid, solid, solid fast-bowling department. Players like Miraz [Mehidy Hasan], when they start performing with the bat, we can go in with a batter short. We need to keep believing in our players, there will be ups and downs but we have the unit to be the best in the world,” Tamim said in the presentation ceremony.

The ODI skipper also credit Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha for developing a new way of playing on a high scoring wickets.

“The wicket was very good, the way we chased down with authority was a message. Litton played very well. (On the pitches) If you remember, a few weeks ago, I said in a press conference that going forward, we will be playing on high-scoring wickets. Credit to the coach who has helped us develop this new way of playing. When you play on these wickets, you can end up surprising yourself with the results you can achieve” he added.

Pacer Hasan Mahmud claimed his maiden five-wicket ODI haul to help demolish Irish batting line up as he was adjudged player of the match.

Hasan finished with 5-32 while Taskin Ahmed claimed 3-26 and fellow pace bowler Ebadot Hossain took the rest with his 2-29.

Hasan pleased with his performance and gave all credit to their pace bowling coach Allan Donald for the brand new pace attack success.

“Grateful for everyone, very excited with the performance. The weather and conditions helped the fast bowlers, enjoyed bowling here. Allan Donald has been the one man who's been behind our improvement, the bowlers have improved gradually as well. We have been working hard on moving the new balls away and hitting our lengths,” Hasan said in the presentation.