Getting the hundred, and winning the game is the best feeling you can ever get: Tamim Iqbal

Tamim Iqbal played a magnificent inning to give Bangladesh a 1-0 lead in the first of the three-match One Day Internationals. Sri Lanka won the toss and put Bangladesh into bat and soon regretted the decision. Tamim played a wonderful knock as he smacked the Lankans all around the park. He scored a brilliant century holding one end for his team.

His 127 runs knock came in 142 deliveries hitting 15 fours and one massive six. The Bangladeshi player was all praises of his team and their fighting spirit and even their own Prime Minister called them congratulate. He said that he could not talk to her when they won the Test match but was happy when she congratulated him on the wonderful innings.

Tamim said: “The Prime Minister had called and we were talking to her. After the Test win, I couldn’t talk to her; she spoke to Shakib and Mushfiqur. After we had won today, she called the board president. Many of us got to speak to her. She congratulated all of us; it is a great feeling when the country’s Prime Minister wishes you well.”

The 28-year-old was proud of his team’s performance but said that there will face tough times as well and these good results will help them during the bad patches.

“We have some talented youngsters with some experienced cricketers. The best feeling is when the team is winning. We also know that there will be a time when things won’t go our way. We have to remember our good times and when the time comes, we will handle it better,” Tamim said while talking to the journalists.

Bangladesh have been seldom good on the field but they were brilliant on the day as they were diving around to save every single run. This newly found attitude is what was praised by Iqbal.

“We did outstandingly well today in the field. Mashrafe’s fielding effort was fantastic. We probably won’t win games all the time but this attitude will make things easier. This new attitude of being involved in everything and supporting each other will take us a long way,” he added.

He was all praise of Sabbir Rahman and the star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan who also played a wonderful knock. Tamim and Sabbir added a 90-run partnership while the opener and Shakib added a massive 144-run partnership which helped them get past the 300-run mark.

He said: “I am very satisfied with the knock. We batted first in hot weather. We did all the hard work. Sabbir Rahman played brilliantly. Shakib and I had a really good partnership.”

Sri Lanka bowled pretty well in patches and Tamim acknowledged them for that as they beat the Lankans by 90 runs. He said that he was happy with his knock and accepted that he was struggling a bit but was adamant to give up.

“They were bowling well during a period, and we rotated the strike and looked for the odd boundary. We planned our innings very well. Getting the hundred, and winning the game is the best feeling you can ever get,” he concluded.