How Bangladesh pulled off Dhaka heist from the verge of losing
With seemingly all hope lost, Bangladesh clawed their way back into the game to script a memorable win and go 1-0 up in the ODI series.
The architect of the victory, Player of the Match, Mehidy Hasan, however, asserted that he believed that he could win it for Bangladesh despite the situation they were in.
"Maybe people will call me pagal (mad) but I had the honest belief that we could win," Mehidy said.
Happy day, happy faces! 😃🇧🇩#INDvsBAN #BANvIND pic.twitter.com/ItpKrsqUW4
— Mehidy Hasan Miraz (@Officialmiraz) December 4, 2022
"I only focused on winning the game. I kept telling myself that I can do this. I thought I'd score 15 runs with Ebadot, 20 runs with Hasan Mahmud and the remaining 15-20 runs with Mustafiz.
"But two quick wickets meant that it was a do-or-die situation with the last wicket remaining. I had to take calculated risks. Mustafiz's words really stayed with me. It gave me more belief."
Mehidy hit Kuldeep Sen for two sixes in an over and later smashed Deepak Chahar for three fours in the 44th over to put Bangladesh on the brink.
He revealed that the words of his batting partner, No.11 Mustafizur, gave him confidence.
"He (Mustafizur) supported me a lot. One thing that stood out was his confidence. He kept telling me, 'You don't worry about me. I will stop the ball at my end. I will take balls on the body, but I won't get out'. His confidence rubbed off on me.
"If I thought that we would lose or we won't be able to get the remaining runs, it wouldn't have worked out like this.
"It was definitely a do-or-die situation. There was no problem to get out trying to hit out. When we needed 50 runs, I took the chances. It came off."
At 136/9 chasing 187, Bangladesh were down and out before the half-century partnership for the final wicket led them to an unlikely win.
The 51-run unbeaten partnership is the fourth-highest for the 10th wicket in a successful run chases in men's ODIs.