World Cup Cricket Warm up match win a boost for Tigers

Bangladesh warmed up well with winning the first preparation match against Sri Lanka ahead of the World Cup.

The win will be a huge boost for the Tigers, who left the country under a situation like a fish out of water, created with Tamim Iqbal’s omission from the team.

Two fresh bloods, batter Tanzid Hasan Tamim and bowler Mahedi Hasan looked very impressive when both the batter and the bowler caught sight with their encouraging performances.  

Forgetting all the negative features, the way Tigers performed against Sri Lanka in both bowling and batting, it looked that no incident off the field could put them under pressure.

Tigers’ impressive performances in the first warm-up match on their way to World Cup mission expectation raised high from them.

Tigers’ bowlers initiated the inspiring execution with bowling out Sri Lanka for 263 runs by 49.1 overs after being sent to bowl first.

Batters also did their job in encouraging way when they chased the target of 263 runs by 42 overs when Litton Das and Tanzid Hasan Tamim set a solid foundation of 131 runs in the opening stand.   After a long interval, Bangladesh batters have a big opening stand, obviously crossing the 100 runs (131) mark will highly boost the Tigers.

 Tanzid Hasan surely deserves some credit for playing an excellent innings of 84 runs in his debut match on a big platform. 

It’s also a very positive message for the team that the Tigers will have a good opener they could rely on.       

It is a big relief for the Bangladesh team that the top order batters looked confident to deal with the initial attacks well from the opponents after a long time.

It was a big headache with the opening stand for the Bangladesh team when the top order or middle order batters could not halt the disasters, as Tigers used to face immense trouble at early stage or at the middle of their innings, as they ultimately folded their innings cheaply very often.

Experienced openers Litton Das accompanied by a fresh blood Tanzid Hasan Tamim tipped off that the pair would bring a stable at the opening stand.

Mushfiqur Rahim and the captain (in absence of Shakib Al Hassan ruled out for injury) Mehidy Hassan Miraz also showed their mettle at the middle remaining unbeaten and left the ground with a big win.

Though Towhid Ridoy could not bat in accordance with his ability and was out for a duck, Mushfique-Mehidy pair did not allow any further damage and remained unbeaten till the team reached the winning target. 

Bowlers though made a bit late to come in action to strike, made the first breakthrough with Nasum Ahmed sending back the danger man Kushal Mendis for 22 (3x4, 1x6) following opener Kusal Perera retired hurt.    

But it was also a huge inspiration that another fresh blood in the squad Mahedi Hasan celebrated three wickets with making his first victim Pathum Nisshanka, who turned into danger with scoring 68 off 64 balls and Sri Lankan were going to set a mammoth target (132 runs in 20 overs).

However, on the day both the batting and the bowling line up, composed of young and experienced, looked an excellent combination. We might have to wait up to October 5, when Bangladesh will kick off their World Cup journey by taking on Afghanistan.