Happy to stay alive in World Cup: Mashrafe

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza was elated to win the crucial match against West Indies, stating that this victory kept them in the World Cup semifinal race, which was the Tigers’ eventual goal, reports BSS. 

He also showered praise on Liton Das, who replaced Mohammad Mithun in the middle order, to hold the nerve and deliver in his first World Cup game.

Liton, indeed a top order batsman, never looked to be out of sort despite being demoted down the order which was very important for Bangladesh as he along with centurion Shakib al Hasan helped Bangladesh to gun down West Indies’ massive 321-8 with 51 balls to spare by sharing a record 189-run for the fourth wicket.

Shakib Al Hasan struck his second successive ton to remain unbeaten on 99-ball 124 while Liton smashed a 69-ball 94 not out.

“I am happy that we are still in the tournament and that is the biggest thing. We had to win today and as we delivered we are confident that we will give our best in the upcoming matches,” said Mashrafe after the match.

“Liton has normally batted at in the top three and it was a tough ask for him to bat at number five, but he did the job and that too in a brilliant fashion,” he said about Liton.

“As I said yesterday, we still have a chance to go but we need to win all the matches. My knees were hurting a bit, but we have enough bowlers to bowl in the death so it’s not much of a worry,” he said.

Mashrafe also hailed Mustafizur Rahman’s effort as he kept West Indies under control, taking out dangermen Shimron Hetmyer and Andre Russell in the same over.

“I think the turning point was the two wickets that Mustafizur got, Russell getting out in the first over. Shakib has delivered for the team in this World Cup,” he said.

“Hopefully, he will keep going and the rest of the boys will join him. Mushfiqur was outstanding in the first two games, Tamim was excellent today and Soumya got a good start as well,” Mashrafe concluded.