‘It wasn’t the easiest wicket to bat on’

Bangladesh's opening batsman Tamim Iqbal, who notched his tenth ODI ton in the match against the West Indies, explains how he and Shakib Al Hasan planned their innings.

When play resumed after the 35-minute rain break, the two most senior statesmen in the Tigers' rank -- opener Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan -- not only removed the fear of another debacle with a record stand but also laid the foundation from where they could think of winning the game. The pair put on 207 runs for the second wicket, which is Bangladesh's second-highest partnership for any wicket behind Shakib and Mahmuduallh Riyad's imperious 224-run fifth-wicket stand in the Champions Trophy against New Zealand in 2017.

Tamim's 160-ball 130 was a special innings under special circumstances after the disastrous Test series had left more than a few dark clouds hanging around the Tigers.

"It is always special whenever an innings contributes to a winning cause," Tamim said after the match.

Tamim's 10th ODI ton, coming off 146 deliveries was the slowest by a Bangladesh batsman in ODIs but he managed to score his last 30 runs off just 14 deliveries, hitting three fours and a couple of sixes including a sweetly-timed one over long-off against Andre Russell in the last over that produced 21 runs. He explained the difficulty of batting on that wicket following the match.

"It wasn't the easiest wicket when we came out to bat today. We really had to work hard to get to a strong position. I think the first 25 overs were really difficult. The ball was spinning and the faster bowlers were getting the ball to do something.

"So our initial plan was to dig in and to carry on and play as long as possible. Not to think about the scoreboard. We had a target in mind which we achieved due to Mushfiq's cameo. We passed that target and got 20 runs more," he concluded.