Published: Mar 05, 2015, 01:43 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 09, 2015, 01:43 PM (IST)
Bangladeshi opener Tamim Iqbal scored a brilliant 95 in his side’s four-wicket win over Scotland at Nelson in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. Reflecting on that win, Iqbal spoke about the Nelson wicket and Scotland side.
Q: Was that one of the most carefully planned innings that you played? Generally, when chasing targets, Bangladesh tend to go aggressive at the start, and that was a huge target. Did you think about slowing down or managing it better?
Tamim Iqbal (TI): Actually, we had a team meeting before we came out to bat. The coach said that we should bat like we’re batting first and not to think about the total. We chased down a similar kind of score two or three years back against Zimbabwe and we batted in a similar way. So rather than thinking about the scoreboard, we were just enjoying the wicket. The wicket was fantastic and the outfield was really quick. So we didn’t have to do too much because if we were timing the ball, then the ball was flying. So that made it easy for us. So we just batted ball by ball.
Q: Do you think if you were playing in Bangladesh, it would have been easier to control yourself?
TI: At Sher-e-Bangla, Scotland won’t be getting 300 for sure.
Q: Do you think there is a case for Bangladesh in between World Cups playing teams like Scotland more, and if you played in Scotland would that maybe help your skills to bowl as well?
TI: I think we should play with every team. And Scotland they are playing very good cricket in this World Cup starting from their warm-up matches, and these conditions suit them quite a lot. Yeah, definitely, if we keep playing with every team we’re just going to improve and nothing else. Scotland can tour us as well. So even they can learn about our wickets and all of those things.
Courtesy: ICC
