It was teens' day out for Bangladesh as they put in a brave performance to upstage title contenders India and gave themselves a chance to qualify for the next stage of the cricket World Cup.
PORT OF SPAIN: It was teens' day out for Bangladesh as they put in a brave performance to upstage title contenders India and gave themselves a chance to qualify for the next stage of the cricket World Cup.
Teenagers Tamim Iqbal (17), Mushfiqur Rahim (18) and Saqibal Hasan (19) notched up sterling performances to outbat the strong Indian team, packed with stalwarts.
Tamim's explosive batting had the carefree and fearless attitude of a youngster who cared little about the rivals' reputation.
The five-match-old international won hearts of fans with his flamboyant and imperious knock of 53 off 51 balls that lay the foundation for Bangladesh's historic five-wicket win.
When Tamim was belting the Indian attack, at the non-striker's end Rahim stayed rooted with his rock solid defence. With the experience of only 12 ODIs, Rahim played the role of sheet anchor to perfection, hitting an unbeaten 56 which came off 107 balls.
Another talented kid in the block, Saqibal shone came up with a superb all-round show. After his accurate slow left-arm bowling tied up the Indian batters, during which he conceded only 44 runs off 10 overs, the southpaw scored a vital 53, sharing a 84-run stand with Rahim for the fourth wicket.
"Our coach and the captain said to play your natural game and that's what I did," said Tamim about the confident and aggressive show of his team.
On his indomitable batting, Tamim, who plundered the Indian pacers with disdain for seven fours and two sixes despite being hit on the grill by Zaheer Khan, said, "I like to play lots of shots and it was easier in the second half, the ball was swinging a little but it was very easy to bat."
Saquibul was equally ecstatic about their win, "It's a good win and we knew that if we could bat 50 overs we would win."
And skipper Habibul Bashar was all praise for Tamim and Rahim.
"Tamim set the tone for the team, he was unruffled and I hope he can continue this form," he said of the youngster, who also played a crucial knock in Bangladesh's upset win over New Zealand in a warm-up match.
"He has a got a good technique and we thought with the new ball doing a bit he did just what the team wanted," Bashar said.
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