Mushfiqur ignites batting order

The stability that Mushfiqur Rahim brings to the top-order has been synonymous with Bangladesh's success stories in any given format. As Bangladesh embarked on their Group 1 journey against Sri Lanka in the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup at Sharjah yesterday, the onus was on Mushfiqur Rahim to give the Tigers' batting the momentum they crave against his favourite opponents.

The right-hander's average stands at 42.28 against the Lankans and his ability to propel the innings was exactly what Bangladesh needed to get some momentum to start off their Super 12 journey.

Having played crucial knocks against Sri Lanka in all formats, Mushfiqur, who had been struggling for runs since returning to the side for the New Zealand series at home in September, left no room for doubt regarding his T20 capabilities.

His unbeaten 37-ball 57 lifted Bangladesh to a challenging total of 171 for four and gave the Tigers confidence in the middle-order, although the total eventually did not prove to be enough.

Mushfiqur did not look at all like a player who had been struggling, playing a fluent knock laced with five fours and two sixes. He rotated the strike to good effect, not keen on losing the initial tempo from the Powerplay, and, with in-form Mohammad Naim batting well at the other end, Mushfiqur got his eye in with singles like he usually does.

Big shots had proven a problem in recent times but he dispelled any lingering doubts with a slog sweep off medium pacer Binura Fernando in the 13th over and continued to dictate terms from then on.

Sri Lanka leggie Wanindu Hasaranga had been touted as Sri Lanka's key weapon but Mushfiqur's fluency allowed Bangladesh to put the pressure back on the opposing bowlers. Two slog sweeps off Hasaranga in the 15th over meant that Sri Lankans' main threat not only went wicketless in his three overs, unable to complete his full quota, but also conceded 29 runs.

That set the Tigers on their way and Mushfiqur brought on his ability to play all over the wicket at the death overs. The ball had not been always coming onto the bat but Mushfiqur rarely looked like he lacked timing.

"It was a good wicket to bat on. Last few matches we saw as the day progresses it becomes difficult to score, so we wanted to bat first. On that wicket someone needed to bat through, so Naim's was a very good innings," said Bangladesh's Mr. Dependable following the first innings.