‘No one can say anything about wickets. We’re playing on good wickets, not that these are “paddy fields”’.
Taskin Ahmed joked after clinching the three-match ODI series against Australia.
Beating Australia in an ODI series is a special achievement, but beating them on good surfaces would boost the team’s confidence going forward—this is the common sentiment of the Bangladesh camp after securing a 2-1 series win over the world champions.
Despite losing the last match by only one wicket on Sunday, Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s team showed outstanding resilience as they almost snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat.
While Australia put on a much better display in every facet of the game in the third match, they were outplayed in the first two matches.
Bangladesh had previously beaten Australia in a five-match series by 4-1 in 2021, but slow and low wickets worked hugely in their favour that time.
This time, the wickets were true throughout the series, as the visitors didn’t even complain a bit about it.
Mehidy, who didn’t play the last match after getting hit on his head in the second game, said that it would boost his team’s confidence.
‘We have played on true wickets. We had a plan as we prepared sporting wickets against Australia. Our goal was to play at the highest level on good wickets so that if we could win, the confidence would be high,’ said Mehidy.
‘It did happen. Each and every player is now high on confidence. Because batters have got runs, bowlers have bowled in good areas and have got wickets. I think the more we can play on such sporting wickets, we’ll improve day by day,’ he added.
While express pacer Nahid Rana created a storm in the first match, Shoriful Islam led Bangladesh’s fightback with his figure of 6-48 in the last match.
Mosaddek Hossain made a memorable comeback to the side to win the player of the series trophy.
Mehidy said that getting recognition from a team like Australia was also a huge achievement.
‘Australians are talking about us, praising our bowlers and batters. They are respecting us because we are giving them tough times,’ he said.
‘This is a sign of improvement. I hope we can continue this so that we can become a formidable side,’ he added.
Mehidy also hailed ‘competition’ for places, as he thought this helped them to build a strong side. Bangladesh have now won four consecutive ODI series, having beaten the West Indies, Pakistan, New Zealand, and then Australia.
‘We have been planning for the last year. As we have a World Cup ahead, how can we set different players in different positions? We are trying to move forward with the goal that we’ll have to do better in the Asia Cup or in the World Cup.
‘We are organising our plans. And now we’ve become a good team,’ he said.
