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“We never had a target in mind,” Mehidy said. “We lost six wickets. So [the thinking was] how many could we score? We tried to take one ball at a time and build a small partnership and not think about setting a target. We tried to play to the situation and talked to each other regularly.
“I liked that he respected me even though he is the senior player. He listened to me when I pointed out that he was panicking. I told him not to attack at times and to take the game deeper. The small conversations helped us in our partnership.”
Mehidy and Mahmudullah got together on 69 for 6. From there, they kept India at bay for over 27 overs, helping Bangladesh post 271 for 7. While Mehidy bagged his second Player-of-the-Match award in as many matches, he said he did not prepare specifically to set the series alight and was only reaping the rewards of the hard work over the years.
“It is a great moment for me to get my first ODI century,” he said. “I will never forget this moment. We were in serious trouble today. My partnership with Riyad [Mahmudullah] bhai was very important. It is a big deal for me. India are one of the best teams in the world. Performing well against a big team is always great. We have won a second ODI series against India. I never really planned specifically to do really well. Luck favoured me.
“I never believed that I could get the hundred. I was playing for the team, had the flow and it happened by Allah’s grace.”
“I wanted to bat out the 50 overs and aimed for 240-250, which would have been tough to chase,” Mehidy said. “[But] Nasum batted outstandingly and his 18 runs were vital. Credit to him for scoring so quickly.”
Mehidy, though, said that the 48th over – a maiden by Mustafizur to Mohammed Siraj – was the turning point. That left India needing 40 from 12 balls.
“We were prepared for Rohit Sharma and our bowlers knew what to do,” he said. “We had to take ten wickets to win the game. He played really well. But our bowlers also did well, especially at the start. They [Iyer and Axar] had a partnership, but we overcame that too. Mustafizur, Ebadot [Hossain], Shakib [Al Hasan] bhai all bowled well. I didn’t do as expected, as I had cramps.
“We believed we could win. We knew a wicket would have given us the advantage. Mustafizur’s maiden over was the turning point. He bowled really well in that over.”
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