He can deliver under pressure: Mash on Shakib

It was the Bangladesh's opening match of the tournament and how the Tigers were going to deal with the nerves and the expectations not only preceding the match but also during the game was always going to be an important factor against an opponent like South Africa. Captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza knew who he can rely upon during pressure situations, especially early on. He talked about sending Shakib Al Hasan is his favoured no.3 role at the top of the innings.

Soumya Sarkar and Tamim Iqbal had gotten Bangladesh off to a decent start, not only weathering the early storm but also putting the Proteas on the backfoot. After Bangladesh lost both openers, the tricky proposition was for someone to carry on the good work and Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim aptly provided that.

Shakib had missed out on key matches due to injury but from the Ireland series he was showing his class before he missed out on the final. Tigers captain reiterated why Shakib was brought back to no.3.

"I think last year he started to bat at No 3. In the tri-series final to get injured. Once he came back, few matches he batted at no 5. We thought that he is more responsible and can hold off all the pressure and deliver under pressure, so we got him back to No 3. He missed the tri-series final, but now he is dong the business," Mashrafe said after the match.

Over the past year or so, it has been seen that Shakib, together with Tamim Iqbal had laid the foundation for a big total against difficult opponents. Mashrafe spoke about the plan and the stability in the top order. "It is the best we have. Tamim, Shakib at the top order, Mushi at 4, and Riyad at 6. Mithun has been batting well for us. Soumya is coming out strongly too. No 7 we have kept changing between Mosaddek and Sabbir. We have a heavy batting line-up. I am proud of Mushi, Riyad and Mehidy who were fasting and did so well today," he said.

The plan to consider the match scenario is one that is going to be crucial for the Tigers in the upcoming matches. Batting par scores have only gone up in modern cricket, but keeping wickets in hand was always going to be crucial and Tigers made it happen against South Africa.

"It looked good that the batsmen built the innings without taking risk. I think they told themselves that we don't need to take many risks to score quickly. I hope that they took this message, and will apply it in the middle in the coming games," he concluded.