Once Netherlands moved into the Super 12s at the expense of Namibia, everyone sniffed a chance for Bangladesh who were searching a victory in the main round of the T20 World Cup since their win against West Indies in the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2007.
But in reality it all looked gloomy as Bangladesh came to the tournament with a four-match losing streak and also lost their warm-up game to Afghanistan before another practice game against South Africa was washed out.
To make the matter worse, Bangladesh were able to put up just 144-8, a score that was always chase-able even though the condition was not easier one. However one man-none other than Taskin Ahmed stood tall to give the country a win that they were seeking for a long time.
“It’s a good win for us and we needed it. We played well as a team, happy to contribute in team’s victory,” Taskin said after the match.
Taskin put Bangladesh on top, taking two wickets of the Netherlands in the first two balls of the innings. It effectively threw the Dutch out of the game as they relied mostly on their top-order for a victory. Although the hat-trick eluded Taskin, he was not too fazed by it, saying that he was just happy to contribute and see his hard work pay off.
“To take a hat-trick or five-wicket, you need a touch of luck. But again, I am not unhappy. I am happy to contribute and happy to see the improvement. There is no end of the improvement. I would like to keep improving in every match,” he added.
For the improvement, he did everything he could do. During the tough period of Covid-19 era, he worked extensively with his fitness and bowling that paid off in such uncanny degree that Taskin had already established him one of the most consistent bowlers in the world.
But rather than his consistency, the use of brain during bowling is the more prominent thing that made him apparent.
“I stuck to my basics, saw there was movement in the first innings. So I bowled Test-match lengths, which was instrumental in taking first two wickets,” he added, showing how good he is now using his brain.
But he didn’t take any satisfaction from his match-winning 4-25, which is also his career-best figure, rather he stressed on finding the loopholes of his bowling and plugged those.
“I can’t move the ball both ways, and now that was the main focus. I worked on that coming into the World Cup,” he added.
