A standard to live up to
It was a fitting end to Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's reign as captain and the inspirational leader, who did a lot of head-scratching over the years while trying to find the perfect opening partner alongside automatic pick Tamim Iqbal, was glad to see Liton Das and Tamim break numerous records during Bangladesh's 123-run win against Zimbabwe in the third ODI in Sylhet on Friday.
292 of the 322 runs made by the Tigers were courtesy of the Tamim-Liton opening duo. The stand featured a total of 22 fours and 12 maximums but it was not merely a product of just boundaries. While the duo made a majority of runs -- 160 -- from boundaries, the remaining 132 -- of which six were extras -- were made by sneaking quick singles and doubles.
For a Bangladesh team that has struggled over the years to find the perfect opening combination, Friday's game could be showcased as the perfect example of opening batting. It included almost every aspect that a batting partnership should contain and so it was not a surprise to see them notch the third-best opening wicket partnership and the sixth-best in terms of runs for any wicket in one-day cricket history.
While the flurry of boundaries fuelled the scoring rate, it was the frequent running between wickets and rotation of strike that never let the scoring rate take a sudden nosedive -- as was the case many a time before. Bangladesh had often seen bright starts turn bleak by trying to find boundaries or by losing wickets. That, however, was not the case on Friday as Tamim, doing his bit as the senior player out in the middle, calmed Liton down when the duo went through a rare rough patch in the game.
"When I was on 80, the bowlers were having a good time. Neither I nor Tamim bhai were being able to take singles. So Tamim bhai motivated me by saying that we could overcome this if we spent a bit more time on the pitch," Liton said of how Tamim motivated him to not throw his wicket away after the game.
Liton rarely fails when it comes to making a cricket connoisseur applaud his stroke-making with the willow, but over the years the major problem for the exquisite right-hander has been his consistency. The 25-year-old's ability has never been in doubt, but he has often failed to convert starts into big scores by throwing his wicket away while trying to do a little more than required.
It is also true that Liton rode his luck a number of times in Friday's game too. He was dropped thrice after his century and was also once rendered not-out after being caught off an eventual no-ball that looked to be below waist-high.
While Liton's 143-ball 176 -- the highest individual score by a Bangladeshi -- might have seen some close calls, it was still commendable. And unlike Liton, Tamim, who was a bit less aggressive and more composed, smashed seven boundaries and six maximums but still managed to bat at a strike-rate of 117.43 during his unbeaten ton.
Such an opening batting display coming against a 12th ranked ODI side with a number of missed opportunities might indicate that there are still a few improvements to be made in the approach, but if the duo can replicate half of what they did at the Sylhet International Stadium on Friday, it can be assumed that much of the concerns regarding the opening slot could be put to an end.
And the Tigers will not have to wait long to see if they can do it as the Tigers face Pakistan away in Karachi in a one-off ODI come April 1.
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