Mahmudullah was playing his first ODI since early March, when he was part of the squad for the three-match ODI series against England. The national selectors initially said they were resting him but over the next six months it became clear that they were moving on from Mahmudullah. But with the World Cup approaching and Bangladesh’s batting proving inconsistent, the selectors had to give Mahmudullah another chance before the major event in India.
“I was nervous today. I’d be lying if I said it was just another game,” he said. “With everything that’s happened in the last few months, I was nervous to bat. But after the first over, it came down to it. It was good to hit the balls again. I think it was good to be out there but “It’s definitely true, I still have a lot of back pain. The physios are trying to sort it out.”
Mahmudullah also took some time to settle down, but despite all the wickets falling at the other end, he was performing strongly. Tamim said Mahmudullah responded well to the situation when he came to bat when the score was 70 for 4.
“I thought he was excellent. I was in a short partnership with him. His intent looked really good. I didn’t think he was out for six or seven months. He looked good. He fielded well. of.”
“It was possible to chase runs on this wicket. I think we could have restricted them to around 210-215. But it was a good wicket. I don’t think we got out on really good balls.
He said, “We have to seriously consider (losing four wickets early) before the World Cup. If we lose four or five wickets early, we cannot win many matches. We lost early wickets but today we took some good wickets. There were moments. But to win any game, you have to stop it (collapse). We have to focus on reducing back-to-back wickets. The coach and the captain are not in charge of it alone, the responsibility is on all of us. “