Nothing would have been more satisfying for Bangladesh than the way they have finished the five-match series against Zimbabwe with Naeem Islam sealing a thrilling win with his maiden one-day half-century on Thursday. The Tigers had already clinched the series and wanted to use the final match to give some of their fringe players, who are important for team combination, a good going as they did not have enough opportunities in the previous four matches.

Coach Jamie Siddons told New Age that they at times had thought about dropping Junaed Siddique for pacer Shahadat Hossain, but finally decided that everybody should be given another chance. Junaed took three catches to equal the record of maximum catches by a Bangladeshi fielder in an ODI, but failed in his original duty as an opener having been dismissed for only 19 runs. Mahmudullah Riyad and Naeem Islam, the other two players with little contribution in the previous matches, however, grabbed their opportunities with both hands and played a big part in the nail-biting one-wicket victory. Mahmudullah bowled an outstanding first spell to take three wickets and afterwards forged a 69-run partnership with Naeem for the sixth wicket when Bangladesh were in dire straits.

Naeem was struck for two sixes in his first over and had to be removed from bowling immediately, but he also made his mark with an innings that was one of the finest ever produced by a Bangladeshi batsman. He scored 73 off 90 balls at a time when everybody had almost given up hopes for winning the match. His 35-run stand, with Nazmul Hossain for the final wicket where Nazmul contributed just one, would probably tell everything. The match was never in favour of Bangladesh until he heaved Justice Chibhabha for three sixes off consecutive deliveries. ‘This is why they are in the team. It proves that our team is now well balanced There are more match winners in the team now,’ skipper Sakib said after the match.

Sakib pointed out that Mahmudullah had won a game for Bangladesh in the West Indies and now Naeem also did the same. ‘It shows the spirit of the team and also it is in good shape,’ said Sakib, who also hailed Naeem for staying positive throughout the innings. Naeem himself was surprised with his efforts as he had hardly played such a crucial match-winning knock in his career. ‘I won a Dhaka Premier League match for Surjo Tarun against Victoria a couple of years ago with a similar innings. Other than that I cannot really tell you if I had won any other matches alone,’ confessed Naeem.

He also confessed that a change in his attitude also contributed to the success. ‘In the past when I faced a similar situation I used to hand over the strike to other batsman, who was not known for hitting the ball as good as me. But today (Thursday) I decided to take up the responsibility and waited for the right moment,’ he said. ‘When Riyad [Mahmudullah] was run out, it hurt me. So I decided to try and play until the last over and see what happens. ‘The powerplay was never in my mind,’ said Naeem, after picking his first man-of-the-match award. Thanks to him Bangladesh ended one of their most successful calendar year that nobody had envisaged at the beginning

-New Age