‘Bowlers could learn how to handle pressure’- Mehidy Hasan Miraz reflects on defeat to West Indies

At Warner Park in St Kitts, Bangladesh lost to the West Indies by five wickets in the opening ODI. With scores of 60, 74, and 50 runs, respectively, from Tanzid Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, and Mahmudullah, the hitters performed admirably. Later, as the visitors scored 294 runs in the first innings, keeper-batter Jaker Ali scored 48 runs off 40 deliveries.

They got off to a strong start with the ball, reducing the West Indies to 27/2. Sherfane Rutherford and Shai Hope took advantage of Bangladesh’s inability to maintain the momentum. Hope scored 86 runs to help Rutherford, who hammered 113 runs off 80 deliveries. The West Indies won thanks to their 99-run partnership and Justin Greaves’ undefeated 41-run knock.

After the match, captain Mehidy Hasan gave some thought to the performance and said the bowlers had a difficult time.

The bowling unit has performed well, he said, and he expects them to develop their ability to handle pressure. The 27-year-old went on to say that the visitors had many advantages, particularly in terms of batting.

According to, Miraz stated, “It is difficult in their own backyard and our bowlers, even if they bowl well, could learn a lot from these kinds of matches like how to handle pressure… they will learn from these kinds of matches and I feel there are lots of positives from this game for us.”

“A set batsman got out when I started, and in fact, two set batsmen got out because Tanzim was out. After working with Afif, I also couldn’t take a chance because I knew that if a set batsman got out, it would put pressure on the new batsman, so I wanted to keep going. And I attempted to assume leadership when Riyad [Mahmudullah] bhai became established. When asked about the batting unit, he responded, “The way Jaker Ali and Riyad bhai finished was brilliant, and if that were not the case the runs could [have] been lesser but we played well as a batting unit.”