“This again vindicates my belief in setting goals and working hard to achieve that. This was easily the best innings I have ever played and it is dedicated to my late father. I am an international cricketer today because of him,” said Tamim while speaking from Bulawayo.

“Over the last few months I have often breezed through to 20s and 30s and then played a rash shot to get out. The difference yesterday was that I could pace my innings exactly the way I wanted and according to the need of the hour,” added the holder of Bangladesh’s highest individual ODI innings.

Bangladesh achieved the target of 313 with 13 balls and four wickets to spare and Tamim spoke about an assured calmness in coach Jamie Siddons before Bangladesh went out to bat which was infectious.

“When you are chasing 300 plus there is a lot of stress on the mind and the natural tendency is to go and start hitting. But he (Siddons) never put us under any pressure. We were told that we will get there easily if we play normal cricket. The coach also said that it was not a problem if we got to 50 in the first 10 overs as long as we didn’t lose too many wickets.

“The dressing room was abuzz too after the Zimbabwe innings. Guys were relaxed, laughing and enjoying themselves. There was confidence oozing from everywhere and I could feel that we were going to get those runs. When the batting started we never panicked and stuck to the plan,” said Tamim who also attributed the success to team spirit and hard work.

“It is not easy to run in Zimbabwe because of the altitude but during the beginning of my innings I had ran fours twice and then carried on batting for 45 overs. We are all working very hard on fitness and skills and the atmosphere in the team is amazing.”

Tamim’s innings partly overshadowed the monumental effort of Charles Coventry who equalled Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar’s world record score of 194 but Tamim had special words for the 26-year old with whom he was joint man-of-the-match.

“I congratulated him and told him that he could keep the trophy. He deserved it. You don’t make world records everyday. It was a truly magnificent innings.”

Never the animated type Tamim was taking the excitement surrounding his innings in his stride.

“We didn’t celebrate much but it just feels wonderful to see the happy faces. We had a team dinner and had fun. One of our officials did a boogie which added to the enjoyment,” said Tamim who has been promised an added incentive by uncle and national selector Akram Khan who is in Zimbabwe.

“He is very proud and happy and he has promised me a gift. I don’t know what it will be. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!”

It was a vital win for the Motijheel outfit, which has now enabled them to brighten their Super League chances as well as keeping their hopes alive in the title race as they improved their tally to 11 points from nine matches.

Biman’s second defeat in the nine games however paved the way for Abahani to take a solo lead in the point-table as Mashrafe Bin Mortaza led from the front with an all-round performance, to secure a 25-run victory for the defending champions against BKSP at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium.

MOHAMMEDAN-BIMAN

The dashing left-hander Jayasuriya scored only two runs but it was former Tigers paceman Aziz who hogged the spotlight in the clash of the heavyweights.

Tareq first claimed four wickets conceding 36 runs as Biman were all out for 231 runs in 48.5 overs, after opting to bat first despite opener Nazmus Sadat’s stroke-filled 80.

Tareq then played a pivotal part with the bat in front of a sparse crowd at the big bowl as the number ten batsman smashed a straight six off spinner Nabil Samad, which brought the winning runs for Mohammedan with two balls to spare.

One down Nadimuddin however top scored with 51 off 91 balls that featured three fours and a six while Nasiruddin Faruque and Faisal Hossain scored 38 runs each.

Earlier Sadat smoted eight fours and three sixes during his 70-ball 80 while skipper Sanwar Hossain contributed 41 off 68 balls with one boundary as Biman put up a decent total on the board.

Besides Tareq, pacer Dollar Mahmud claimed three wickets for 51 runs while Jayasuriya took two for 38 runs.

BIMAN: 231 all out in 48.5 overs (Sadat 80, Zahid 20, Sanwar 41, Mushfiqur 24, extras 22; Tareq 4-36, Jayasuriya 2-38, Dollar 3-51)
MOHAMMEDAN: 234-8 in 49.4 overs (Faruque 38, Nadimuddin 51, Rokibul 27, Shamsur 28, Faisal 38, extras 16; Shahadat 3-38, Nabil 2-49)
Result: Mohammedan won by two wickets.

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