Star Bangladesh player Parvez Hossain Emon idolised Tamim Iqbal as he grew up watching the veteran batter and tried to follow the same aggressive mindset as well. However, Parvez rewrote history with his stunning knock, making 100 in 53 balls as well. With this, he became the first Bangladeshi to hit nine sixes in a T20I game, but for Parvez, matching Tamim’s record was the biggest win as well.
“Yes, I was well aware of Tamim bhai’s [record] as he scored that hundred against Oman. I try to watch all his games,” Emon said after his Player of the Match performance against UAE. “Alhamdulliah, I am feeling good as I scored a century. After returning home, I remembered that Tamim bhai scored the first century. I am happy because I used to watch Tamim bhai’s game as a child and now name name is right next to his.”
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Despite Emon’s stunning innings, Bangladesh failed to surpass 200, due to a batting collapse. Except for Towhid Hridoy, none of the batters could reach the 20-run mark.
He added, “When the wickets were falling I just tried not to change my intent and I was always waiting to play to my strengths. But at the same time I was keeping this in my head that I needed to take the game deep and I had to carry on. I just tried to give the best.”
Meanwhile, Bangladesh captain Litton Das admitted that there is a possibility of improvement despite a 27-run win.
“Definitely, it was a good total. The wicket was very good for batting and the way Emon batted was outstanding,” said Litton. “But we have to finish better. We couldn’t score much in the last three overs. I always know my bowlers can bounce back at any time. I trust our bowling unit. That said, credit to the UAE batters as well. They batted very well in the middle overs and we need to learn from this – to understand what kind of bowling works on this pitch. The way all the bowlers bowled and showed composure was impressive. It looked 50-50 in the middle overs, but they pulled it back brilliantly.”
