Bangladesh cricketer Mahmudullah Riyad has revealed that Afghanistan’s talented spinner Rashid Khan is not completely unplayable. The former rose to the occasion in a do or die match against Afghanistan on Sunday. The two teams clashed in a Super 4 encounter, both needing a win to keep their hopes of a final alive.
While Mahmudullah had only scored a total of 53 runs in the previous three matches of the ongoing Asia Cup 2018, he reminded one and all of his talent with a valuable knock of 74, which propelled Bangladesh to 249 in the first innings. His 128-run partnership with Imrul Kayes was the turning point in the Bangladesh innings, which was falling apart when Mushfiqur departed – the scoreboard reading 87 for 5.
Often touted as Bangladesh’s crisis man, Mahmudullah said he definitely enjoyed bringing his side back into the match with his bat. 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,” Mahmudullah said. “Pressure will always be there and we just need to find out ways to handle it, that’s all.”
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However, the Bangladeshi player would have scrutinized, and possibly been worried about, is spinning sensation Rashid Khan. Rashid has been bowling some phenomenal spells and to top that, has been contributing with the bat as well. But Mahmudullah revealed that the Bangladesh camp was consciously trying to pick singles off Rashid and not get bogged down by the slow run-rate.
Talking about the same, Mahmudullah said, “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. Maybe we couldn’t apply ourselves to him the way we wanted. In our [Mahmudullah and Imrul Kayes’s 128-run sixth-wicket] partnership, our plan was to not give Rashid our wicket. We dug deep and we saw it through until the end.”
Mustafizur Rahman’s final over heroics help the Tigers to stay alive in the 2018 Asia Cup. They next lock horns with Pakistan on Wednesday in a virtual semi-final, the winner of which will meet India in the final on the 28th of September.
