Asia Cup 2018: Century Against Sri Lanka Best Innings Of My Life: Mushfiqur Rahim

Bangladesh star Mushfiqur Rahim rated his 144-run knock in the Asia Cup opener as the best innings of his life. The 31-year-old scored his sixth ODI ton to help Bangladesh thrash bitter rivals Sri Lanka by 137 runs.

Mushfiqur came to the crease when Bangladesh were tottering at 3 for 2. Mashrafe Mortaza’s decision to bat first backfired initially with Lasith Malinga running riot. In the very first over, he dismissed Liton Das and Shakib Al Hasan to reduce the Tigers to 1 for 2. The odds were firmly stacked against Mushfiqur. Tamim Iqbal retiring hurt with a broken wrist in the second over was another testament of the bad situation Bangladesh was in.

The searing heat of Dubai made his task even more tough. However, the former Bangladesh skipper overcame all the odds to compile a stunning century and pull his team out of the trouble.

He and Mohammad Mithun added 131 runs for the third wicket to steady the ship. However, Bangladesh kept on losing wickets from one end as Mushfiqur found little support from the other end. But he held firm and made sure that Bangladesh end up with a good score. The highlight of the innings was obviously his stand with Tamim Iqbal as the duo added 32 runs, helping Bangladesh post 261.

Mushfiqur now has Bangladesh’s second highest score in ODIs, behind Tamim’s 154 against Zimbabwe in 2009.

Speaking after the game, he called the knock the best of his life so far.

“I can say at the moment this is the best innings of my life so far,” Rahim told reporters on Sunday (September 16). “Lot of people are saying it too [my best innings] but in future I can come up with a better innings than this one. But till date this is the batting of my career so far.”

Mushfiqur has become Bangladesh’s go-to man in tough situations. When asked if he keeps tabs of those knocks, Rahim laughed it off.

“To be honest, I don’t have any count of it [performances resulting in victory] and I don’t want to keep any count of it. Basically, I want to win so many matches that I cannot keep any account of it. I will try to contribute more and more in our wins,” he said.

UAE’s unbearable heat and humidity is making the task for the players. Rahim then lifted the lid after his heroic display, revealing the tough task he and his teammate underwent.

“We practiced to be able to perform in this condition. Perhaps we did not have the chance to play in this kind of heat but the hard work that we put in on fitness purpose is often ignored by the media. We don’t see you [media] when we start the running session at 7 or 8 in the morning because you usually arrive at 10 or 11,” Mushfiqur remarked.

“This is the reflection of the amount of dedication and hard work that we put in that [fitness] session. Perhaps I did it yesterday [despite heat] but anyone from us can do it. We all have the confidence that we can overcome any situation and this confidence was translated in the last match,” he added.

Bangladesh will next play against Afghanistan on September 20.