‘It’s a great feeling when you score runs and the team wins’

Buoyed by a century from Tamim Iqbal, some good bowling and work in the field coupled with the West Indies' struggles in the middle overs, Bangladesh secured their first series win outside Asia since 2009 and also their first series victory since 2015. Opener Tamim Iqbal, who has shown fantastic form throughout the ODI series reiterated that it is the best feeling to score runs and contribute to the team's victroy and said the players did not lose hope even after the second ODI where Bangladesh narrowly missed out on victory.

"This was very pleasing since I think it was the first time we won a series after 2015," Tamim commented after the 2-1 series victory over the West Indies.

"It's a good thing that we came back strongly to win the first ODI and we should have won the second match but it didn't happen. This match was also very important to us. What was most pleasing for me is the fact that no one lost hope," the opener said.

"If you look at the dimensions of the ground, you will see that it favours the West Indies batsmen. It's a small ground and they all are power hitters. Considering all those factors, I think this series means a lot for us," he added.

Tamim yesterday struck his 11th ODI ton and was instrumental to giving Bangladesh batting a backbone from where they could launch an attack on West Indies bowling. His 124-ball 103 not only stabilized Bangladesh early on in the innings, he also played major role in building the innings. By the time Tamim fell, Tigers had 200 runs on the board. He was not only the player of the match but was awarded the player of the series as well.

"When you score runs and your team wins, that is the best feeling ever. The thing is that I had to remain patient in the first, second and third ODI and I feel that my hard work paid off. I wasn't successful in the Test series. Many of us didn't find success during the ODI series but everybody worked hard."

That Bangladesh piled up 96 runs in the final 10 overs was also due in part to the innings that Tamim played. Mahmudullah Riyad used the foundation that Tamim created in the death overs with a fantastic knock of his own. Not only was Tamim instrumental in both wins, he also ensured that his batting was a constant source of hope for the Tigers when the chips were down.