‘I’ll play not one but four to five reverse sweeps next time’

Mushfiqur Rahim lifted Bangladesh from a difficult situation with a cool-headed 125 against Sri Lanka in the second ODI on Tuesday. Having resorted to playing high-risk reverse sweep shots to lose his wicket on many occasions before the Sri Lanka series, the Bangladesh's wicketkeeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim was perhaps consciously avoiding it during both the first and second ODIs. However, while answering questions sent by the media for the press conference, Mushfiqur stated that he was looking forward to playing more reverse sweep shots in the coming matches.

He stated that the situation did not come during his knock, which is why he did not play the shot. Incidentally, in the first ODI he got out to a reverse sweep after a potent innings and missing out on a ton, having avoided the shot earlier on his innings.

"I think reverse sweep is one of my favourite shots and one of my go to shots. That kind of situation didn't come [during innings today] but when it comes, I will definitely play it again. I also want to say that in the third ODI, If the situation arises, I'll play not one but four to five reverse sweeps," Mushfiqur said.

Mushfiqur came down to bat at number four when Tigers were in jeopardy, losing a couple of early wickets with only 15 runs on the board. His composed innings allowed the Tigers to get to a challenging total of 246 runs.

Having received the Player of the Match award, the wicketkeeper batsman expressed how he was mentally prepared during the crisis situation. "I think in ODI cricket, it's possible to lose a couple of early wickets facing the new ball, hence I was mentally prepared. We always practice with the new ball, so it wasn't anything new to me." With Liton Das as his partner, he said the plan was 'not to lose any more wickets in the next 5-7 overs' after the loss of Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan.

"The hundred is a milestone and an individual thing, but all in all, what matters the most is the team's victory. We might have lost even after the hundred, but my main target was to bat till the 50th over. And I think 246 was a good enough score on this wicket." Mushfiqur remarked on his century.