05 November,2019 07:33 AM IST | New Delhi | Shalabh Manocha
Bangladesh's Mushfiqur Rahim (right)m celebrates after winning the first T20I against India in New Delhi on Sunday. Pic/ PTI
As Bangladesh T20 skipper Mahmudullah Riyad hit a six to seal the first T20 international against India at the Ferozshah Kotla ground on Sunday night, a camera panned towards Mushfiqur Rahim who celebrated more than the skipper. It was his night after all with an unbeaten 60 off just 43 deliveries.
If it wasn't till the third ball of the 18th over, it turned into one when Krunal Pandya dropped him on the boundary. In the next over, Rahim hit four boundaries to virtually seal the deal for the visitors. Rahim, after being on the wrong end in the past few matches against India, did manage to finally be on the smiling side. "So, this (win) brings smiles and calmness in our team and the whole nation. That's what we have done and we will try to continue this form," said the wicketkeeper-batsman.
The so-near-yet-so-far syndrome for Rahim before this India encounter had become too familiar, something he didn't want to repeat. He and Mahmudullah were the ones who got out at crucial junctures in the last over of the World T20 game in 2016 at Bangalore. His reaction on Twitter to India's loss to WI in that tournament's semi-final also got him a lot of criticism.
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Even last year, though he wasn't batting but was standing behind stumps when a freaky innings by Dinesh Karthik snatched victory away from them in the Nidahas Trophy final. "We have learnt a lot from those last two games against India that went into the last over, so we discussed on how we can overcome those moments. I was telling Riyad bhai that let's win in singles and doubles rather than going for big hits," added Rahim while explaining the approach. These are tough lessons that players who have played the amount of cricket Rahim has around the world are bound to learn with experience, but these aren't the toughest. The "toughest" according to Rahim in his 15 years in international cricket have been, "these last two or three weeks" where he saw teammate Shakib Al Hasan being banned for not reporting corrupt approach.
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