Entertaining practice

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal scored 52 runs off 30 balls in the T20 practice match at Mirpur yesterday, but the Shakib Al Hasan-led team fell short of their revised target. Photo: Star

'It's one each,' a smiling Mashrafe Bin Mortaza blurted while shaking hands with his opposing captain Shakib Al Hasan at the end of the T20 practice match yesterday in Mirpur. The ODI skipper's jubilation though wasn't because of a series-levelling performance from his side.

In fact, Mashrafe's team, which included the likes of Mushfiqur Rahim, Rubel Hossain, Soumya Sarkar and a number of other national players, were restricted to just 137 in 20 overs.

In reply, a fierce half-century stand between openers Tamim Iqbal and Anamul Haque helped Shakib's side gobbled three-fourth of the target halfway through. That's when the team management decided to put some extra pressure on the team batting second. With roughly eight overs remaining, the target was changed to 196.

That's when Shakib, who batted at number three, started unleashing his slog sweeps in a bid to chase down the new target. However, he fell to Sabbir Rahman, after smacking the latter for two huge boundaries in the same over. After that, they crumbled and eventually fell a few runs short of their target.

And so while coming off the field Mashrafe, in his usual energetic demeanour, yelled, "Coach! It's 1-1. They might have reached their first target, but they failed to reach the second."

It may have been just a practice match, but the way the two teams -- a mix of the national players and members of the high performance unit -- formed lines and shook hands at the end of the match, depicted a sense of discipline only seen during official games.

The entire match too was played with a competitive spirit. Every player on the field tried their best to give it their all. Tamim, for one, was in a menacing mood. He wasn't going to let Arafat Sunny, who had a bad last game against India, settle in as he went after him with consecutive boundaries. One of which was an eye-catching straight drive for a six.

Mashrafe too was driven to all corners of the park. Tamim had taken him for three consecutive boundaries in the third over. His partner Anamul enjoyed himself as well, reverse-sweeping his way to glory.

A couple of different strategies were employed by the teams. Mashrafe for instance, preferred to open the innings with off-spinner Shohag Gazi, who hasn't played an international game for close to a year. The team management is hunting for an off-spinner for the series and it was perhaps Mashrafe's way of finding out more about the off-spinner.

In the same vein, Shakib gave leg-spinner Jubair Hossain a number of overs in the first innings. Mushfiqur Rahim, seemed adamant about returning to wicketkeeping as he kept throughout the second innings of the game.

SCORES IN BRIEF

BCB RED: 136 for 9 (Nasir 57 not out; Taijul Islam 3-25, Shakib 2-19, Jubair 1-15, Mustafizur 1-18)

BCB GREEN:  189 for 7 (Tamim 52, Anamul 48, Shakib 43; Sabbir 2-22, Nasir 1-30)