Bangladesh already have the ODI series against in their bag with the final match left. Although rookie left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman was the cynosure in the first two ODIs with a tally of 11 wickets, it was the team effort that earned the victories for the hosts.
Everyone played the part assigned to them and every little contribution was crucial in getting to the result. One such contributor was all-rounder Nasir Hossain. He played a cameo of 34 runs in the first ODI and in the second, picked up the all-important wickets of Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli.
While Hossain considers himself a batsman who bowls occasional off-breaks, he thanked captain Mashrafe Mortaza for giving him the confidence and the opportunity to achieve more as a bowler.
“I bowl a lot more than before, and I am working a lot more on it,” he said ahead of the third ODI in Mirpur. “I always enjoyed my bowling and I am doing that right now as well.
“Mashrafe bhai always tells me that I will bowl. He says, ‘Think of yourself as a bowler and not as an occasional bowler. When you bowl, think of yourself as a specialist bowler. I know that no matter which batsman or how good he is, a good ball can get him out’. And I was happy because we got a wicket at a time when the team needed a breakthrough,” he said.
Despite being high on the series win, Hossain ensures there will be no mark of complacency in the way Bangladesh play in the final game.
“In the dressing room we talked about how we would have felt had we lost the first two games. We have been told to play the third game keeping that in mind. We have been asked to not have any complacency.
“We know that India will attack us but we are not worried about that. We are concerned about our own roles and hopefully we can perform them well,” Hossain said.
The recent rise of Bangladesh in ODI cricket is the hot topic in international cricket. However, the team is ensuring they don’t let the success get into their heads as there are higher peaks to scale.
“The team that we have has been playing for a long time. The biggest plus is that we have made a habit of winning in the last few series that we have played. We are just trying to continue that,” Hossain said.
“We will not call ourselves a big team as yet since we have only done well in the last two-three series. if we can play like this for a few more series continuously then I can say that we are in a good position.”
Hossain also said that beating Pakistan 3-0 at home earlier gave them the confidence required to beat a team like India. “After winning 3-0, the confidence did help us. We are trying to use that against India. If we can play to our roles we can beat India 3-0.”
