PM asks Tamim about his well-being

Bangladesh and India signed seven memorandum of understanding (MoUs) on cooperation in seven sectors during a virtual summit today.

The seven MoUs include framework agreement on high impact community development projects; cooperation in the field of agricultural, protocol on trans-boundary elephant conservation; supply of equipment and improvement of garbage/solid waste disposal ground in Barishal City Corporation; cooperation between Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Museum, Dhaka and museum in New Delhi; terms of reference of India-Bangladesh CEOs Forum; and framework understanding on cooperation in Hydrocarbon sector.

The virtual summit between Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian PM Narendra Modi began around 11:30am.

Hasina and her counterpart Modi delivered their opening remarks.

The meeting will continue until 1:00pm today.

Following that, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen will hold a press conference at the State Guesthouse Padma in Dhaka at 2:30pm.

They launched a postal stamp marking the birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and inaugurated Bangabandhu-Bapu Digital Museum, which highlights the lives and activities of the founders of Bangladesh and India.

Bangladesh's mode of attack switched from spin in the Tests to pace in yesterday's first ODI, but there was no change in the outcome as the hosts outclassed West Indies by five wickets at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.

The Tigers' better awareness and skill shone through first in restricting the visitors to a sub-par 195 for nine on a slow wicket. West Indies batsman Roston Chase admitted after the match that the team -- who combined to play 171 dot balls -- failed to adjust to the wicket and realise that the pacers were more difficult to score off in these conditions.

Bangladesh's greater awareness came to the fore again when the chase was looking shaky on 89 for three and Shakib Al Hasan got quick runs to calm the nerves while Mushfiqur Rahim provided assurance with an unbeaten 70-ball 55 that, in the company of Mahmudullah Riyad, took the side home with 89 balls to spare. The win was a special one as it came on the day that skipper and player-of-the-match Mashrafe Bin Mortaza became the first Bangladeshi to play 200 ODIs.

Tamim Iqbal and Liton Das started the chase in solid fashion, putting on 37 runs in eight overs. However Tamim was out to a soft dismissal in the last ball of the eighth over when he played early to off-spinner Roston Chase and was caught at cover for 12.

Before that, Liton was lucky in the seventh over when, batting on five, he flicked Kemar Roach straight down the throat of deep square leg, but was reprieved as replays revealed a no-ball.

Imrul Kayes, coming in at number three, did not last long. Oshane Thomas's pace proved too hot and the ball burst through bat and sluggish pad to bowl the left-hander.

Liton and Mushfiqur Rahim steadied the ship from 42 for two and added 47 runs before the inevitable rush of blood, swiping across the line to an innocuous Keemo Paul delivery, saw Liton bowled for a 57-ball 41.

Shakib and Mushfiqur took care of the butterflies with a 57-run partnership that was dominated by Shakib, who hit four boundaries in a 26-ball 30. Shakib was caught behind off Rovman Powell in the 27th over and that set the stage for Soumya Sarkar to come in and dazzle with some attractive shots during a 12-ball 19. Thomas's pace was not a problem in the 29th over, during which he hit the fast man for two fours and a six. The six was extra special as he ramped a bouncer clean over third man. The entertainment was short-lived, however, as Soumya departed in the next over, edging Chase to slip.

Earlier, Mashrafe led a thoroughly professional bowling effort, especially by the pacers.

The score could have been even less for West Indies as at the end of the 40th over, which saw Marlon Samuels dismissed by Rubel Hossain, they were 129 for six. A few lusty blows from Chase (32 off 38 balls) and Paul, who took 14 runs off the penultimate over bowled by Rubel, lifted the score towards respectability. Mustafizur Rahman then pulled things back in the last over, dismissing Paul (36 off 30) and Devendra Bishoo in an over that cost just two runs. Mustafizur ended with figures of 35 for three from 10 overs.

But it started with the captain. Mashrafe's 10 overs cost just 30 runs and yielded three West Indian wickets. He brought himself on in the 15th over of the innings and bowled seven overs on the trot for just 14 runs and two wickets.

Before that, it was the left-arm spin of Shakib Al Hasan, who opened the bowling along with off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz, that produced the first breakthrough when Kieran Powell top-edged a slog to be caught at cover in the eighth over. Mashrafe came in and bowled a near-perfect line and length, mixing his seam-up deliveries with slower off cutters on the sluggish Mirpur wicket. With Rubel and Mashrafe keeping things tight in tandem, the pressure got to Darren Bravo, who fell in the 21st over courtesy of a superlative fielding effort from Tamim Iqbal. Bravo miscued a lofted shot off Mashrafe and Tamim sprinted 20 yards inwards from long off to take a diving catch inches off the turf.

Mashrafe then accounted for Shai Hope in the 25th over when the right-hander slashed to point, where Mehedi took a sharp catch to his right. 78 for three became 93 for four in the 29th over when the talented Shimron Hetmyer fell to Mehedi for the fifth time in as many innings on tour as he tried to cut a full ball and was bowled. Mashrafe then came back to complete his quota, and dispatched his opposite number Powell by having him caught at mid off by Liton Das.

After Samuels, who hammered a lofted straight drive that looked to be heading over the ropes before Liton caught a sharp catch less than two feet from the long on ropes, Chase and Paul got together to resuscitate an innings that seemed headed for a score below 170.

While the bowling effort was near flawless, Bangladesh were wasteful in the field, dropping four chances. Bravo was dropped off Mustafizur when on 13 by Ariful Haque -- on the field at the time in place of Shakib -- at point in the 16th over. Mushfiqur Rahim was the culprit and Bravo again the beneficiary in the 20th over when the diving keeper failed to latch on to an edge off Rubel. Rubel was the unlucky bowler again when Samuels, on seven, hit over mid off where Mahmudullah Riyad was a little slow to move and could just get fingertips on the ball before it raced away for four in the 28th over. Rubel was however the culprit four overs later when he dropped an absolute sitter off Shakib at mid on, reprieving Powell on four.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today laid the foundation stone of a 4.8km double-line dual-gauge Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge -- aimed at boosting rail communication between the capital and western zones of the railway.

Once constructed, the dedicated dual-gauge double-track railway bridge over the Jamuna River, which will be built some 300 metres upstream of the Bangabandhu Bridge that has a single rail line, would be the largest dedicated rail bridge in the country.

The Prime Minister laid the foundation stone virtually from her official residence Gono Bhaban.

Bangladesh Railway, along with the consultant organisations -- Oriental Consultants Global Company Limited and Chodai Company Limited of Japan and Development Design Consultants Limited of Bangladesh in association with ACE Consultants Limited of Bangladesh -- have already completed a detailed design of the railway bridge.

The main bridge will be constructed in two phases. Two separate agreements have already been signed with Obayashi-TOA-JFE, Japan and IHI-SMCC JV, Japan for eastern and western parts of civil works respectively.

A joint venture of Obayashi Corporation, TOA Corporation and JFE would construct the eastern part of the bridge at a cost of Tk 6,801 crore, while another joint venture of the IHI and SMCC will work on the western part which will cost Tk 6,148 crore.

As per the agreements, land was handed over to both contractors in July this year.

The main project operations include the construction of a 4.8km long dual-gauge double-track bridge, construction of a 7.6km long double-line railway approach embankment, erection of 30.73km dual-gauge railway track, construction of 16 railway approach viaducts, minor bridges and culverts, renovation and remodeling of Bangabandhu Bridge East and Bangabandhu Bridge West stations and yards.

The new bridge will be able to run trains at a speed of 120 kmph on broad gauge line and 100 kmph on metre gauge track. With the construction of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge, 88 trains will be able to run.

The project is scheduled to be completed by 2025.

While it may seem that being the first Bangladesh player to suffer the misfortune of getting out on 99 in international cricket would disappoint a player who strives endlessly for personal excellence, Mushfiqur Rahim was not bothered with the near-miss after Bangladesh won the Asia Cup match against Pakistan by 37 runs on Wednesday and moved into Friday's final against India. 

"To be honest, after winning, I am not hurting anymore," Mushfiqur said in the post-match press conference at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. "I don't know how much you know about this, but I always believe that the team comes first. If I scored a century, and we scored 260 but lost the match, I wouldn't have felt good. This is not just lip service, but comes from my heart."

In the opening match of the tournament against Sri Lanka on September 15, Mushfiqur's 144 rescued the team from a precarious position. He did much the same here, except that he could not complete what would have been his seventh ODI century and while he was out in the 50th over against Sri Lanka, he perished to a Shaheen Shah Afridi outswinger in the 42nd over on Wednesday. 

"My disappointment [at getting out] was heightened because, as I kept saying after going into the dressing room, as a set batsman I should have batted at least until the 48th over. With the bowling quality they have even at the death, it is not easy to hit when you are new to the crease. We barely scored 100 runs in the last 20 overs.  We scored around 110 [103 runs in the last 20 overs of the innings, which ended at 48.5 overs]. So it was obviously disappointing for me. But I think the team winning is most important."

With all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan ruled out of the tournament with a finger injury before the match and opener Tamim Iqbal having gone home with a fractured left hand after the opening game, the onus was largely on Mushfiqur to compensate for a faltering top order that cannot seem to get going after repeated tries. 

"This [innings] is definitely top five. We needed one partnership badly at that time," said Mushfiqur about building a 144-run fourth-wicket partnership with Mohammad Mithun (60 off 84) after Bangladesh were cut down to 12 for three. "The wicket was pretty good to bat on and we knew that with the quality Pakistan had with the new ball we knew that we might lose a couple of early wickets; that can happen to any side. 

"But the way we bounced back was very important. And I think I should credit Mithun as well because the way he batted – he played very well in the first game and was under pressure in the next two games – but the way he backed himself was great from a young cricketer, seeing him play his shots and everything. The plan was to just knock the ball around in the first couple of overs because we knew that after losing three wickets the team [Pakistan] would be geared up and charged up against us. So we coped with the pressure really well in the first part and in the latter part we carried on with the run rate."