A true dreamer

A spectacular turnaround!

Ah! Relieved, it all clicked in the nick of time. Soumya Sarkar got the reward of being patient; Mahmudullah Riyad took only one match to return to his composed self. The bowling had its best out in the middle to set an easy platform for the batters. New pace sensation Mustafizur Rahman took three wickets and gave a message that he was not a migratory bird and came here to stay; Rubel Hossain returned to claim two important wickets; a mischievous Nasir Hossain claimed three wickets to continue his good form with his off spin. All those, combined with electric fielding, played a big part in the Tigers' turnaround against a formidable South Africa at Mirpur last night.

Someone can stop here feeling that he has covered everything in a nutshell in the Tigers' seven-wicket success. But then he might miss out on a vital cog behind the success -- terrific captaincy from Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. The man from Narail led the team like a true general and hardly allowed his opponents an inch to break the shackles. But why is that so important for the new-look Tigers?

After the memorable win, everyone was amazed by his very interesting response when the inspirational captain was asked about how big the challenge was.

"What I understand by the term challenge is that I have a son and a daughter, and my biggest challenge is to make them good human beings. And everything else … I don't think that's a challenge. I don't have any bigger challenge than that," was the response from the captain, who is an epitome of overcoming struggles in his career.

If someone preaches a philosophy like that, then the success is bound to come his way. When someone believes that it's just a game where someday he wins and someday he loses, then it's easy for him to inspire his team and put the pressure on his opponents.

"I wanted to do many other things, but I didn't do any of that. It depends on the situation what decision to take. At one point I wanted to finish Shakib's [Al Hasan] overs. That could have been a risk, but I told myself that if he could get a wicket, and then I finished Mustafizur's over-thinking if he could get two wickets, although he did get one. Rubel bowled a couple of extra overs, and Riyad came in the middle. So it depends on instant planning on the field. I always prefer following my gut feeling and that is a fact," Mashrafe said, while elaborating how he handled his bowlers.

Mashrafe was happy that his team fulfilled his desire of making a turnaround from adversity but he has bigger dreams; a matured team. And that's the reason why Champions Trophy qualification was not a big issue for him to cheer.

THE NUMBERS
* South Africa were bundled out for their lowest ever score (162) against Bangladesh yesterday. The previous lowest being 184 scored back in 2007
* Yesterday was the first time that Bangladesh bowled South Africa out at home
* This is only Bangladesh's second ODI win against South Africa
* Nasir Hossain's figures of 3 for 26 is the third best by a Bangladeshi against South Africa
* Skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza scalped one wicket yesterday and took his ODI tally to 199. Abdur Razzak is the only Bangladeshi bowler to take 200 ODI wickets
* Mahmudullah Riyad and Soumya Sarkar recorded Bangladesh's highest stand against South Africa yesterday -- 135