Mushy fires Tigers to 278
The mantra heading into the first ODI for Bangladesh was positivity and fearless cricket. For half of the match so far, with a team score of 278 for seven, the Tigers have shown those qualities in spades and Mushfiqur Rahim was the lynchpin of the effort with Bangladesh's first century on South African soil, a magnificently controlled and proactive 110 off 116 balls with 11 boundaries and two sixes.
Needless to say, with Bangladesh's dismal record in South Africa so far, a number of records were created over the course of the innings. Bangladesh's previous highest score in the country was 230 all out in Benoni in 2008. Mushfiqur's 123 sits comfortably on top of the highest scores list for Banglaadesh batsmen in South Africa, with Mohammad Ashraful's 73 in Bloemfontein in 2008 being the previous highest. It was also the third time that Bangladesh batted out the full 50 overs of an innings in South Africa.
Apart from Mushfiqur's fifth ODI century -- which was brought up with a tuck to the leg side for two off his 108 th delivery -- there was not a score above Imrul Kayes's 31, but all of Bangladesh's eight batsmen who featured in the innings reached double figures, with the lowest score among the top six being Sabbir Rahman's 19. All of the batsmen scored at a fair rate, with Shakib Al Hasan's 29 having the lowest strike rate of 64.4, and everyone from Mushfiqur downwards striking at more than 90 runs per 100 balls.
Bangladesh have to now contend with the absence of pace spearhead Mustafizur Rahman while defending on a good wicket, but after the batting debacles of the Test series, the first ODI has already featured a welcome turnaround.
Comments