'Making our own decisions'
It was an open secret that during the tenure of former head coach Chandika Hathurusingha, the involvement of Bangladesh's senior members was less than ideal when it came to planning and taking decisions on the field.
And when the post-Hathurusingha era began, a new Bangladesh team emerged on the field with the seniors taking responsibility, which has proved fruitful in the first two games of the ongoing tri-series. The Tigers were clinical yet again in their first meeting against Hathurusingha's Sri Lanka, since he resigned from his Bangladesh post, and clinched their largest ODI victory by 163 runs yesterday.
From skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's economical and incisive spell of eight overs, to Tamim Iqbal not willing to throw his wicket away despite having a tough time initially, Mushfiqur Rahim's body language be it with the bat or behind the stumps and of course Shakib Al Hasan's all-round performance and involvement, the Tigers seemed to be pumped throughout the game.
When asked about the difference in mindset and game planning compared to Hathurusingha's tenure, Shakib highlighted the importance of seniors taking decisions, which changed the mindset of the side.
"Those who do our planning had a change in mindset. We had a change of coach, so the new person has his own thinking. I won't say we played without freedom in the past but now we are also playing freely. At the same time, we also take our own decisions. This is a big advantage for everyone to be involved. Sujon bhai [Khaled Mahmud] and Richard [Halsall] know what we need," Shakib said after the comprehensive win yesterday.
Shakib, who won a second consecutive player-of-the-match trophy by scoring 67 with the bat and picking up three wickets, remained diplomatic when asked whether this win is extra special as it is against Hathurusingha's side.
"A win is a win for me. It is important to beat Sri Lanka, especially in the context of this tri-series. This will give us a lot of confidence ahead of the next two games," he said.
Shakib and Tamim Iqbal, who scored 84 runs yesterday, reached the milestone of scoring 10,000 and 11,000 runs respectively across three formats and according to the ace all-rounder, healthy competition between teammates drove them to do better.
"Everyone has their own expectations but it's good that three of us compete against each other.
"Of course we don't wish each other bad though," he said with a smile when reminded that the top run-scorer's record has been passed back and forth between Tamim and himself.
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