Rashid Khan one of the best, but not unplayable, feels Bangladesh batsman Mahmudullah

Bangladesh batsman Mahmudullah has revealed that Afghanistan’s dominant spinner Rashid Khan is not entirely unplayable. Mahmudullah has struggled with the bat during the ongoing edition of the Asia Cup, but the Bangladeshi rose to the occasion in a do or die match against Afghanistan on Sunday. The two teams clashed in a Super 4 encounter, both needing a win to keep their hopes of a final alive.

While Mahmudullah had only scored a total of 53 runs in the previous three games of the tournament, he reminded one and all of his talent with a valuable knock of 74, which propelled Bangladesh to 249 in the first innings. Mahmudullah’s 128-run stand with Imrul Kayes was the turning point in the Bangladesh innings, which was falling apart when Mushfiqur departed – the scoreboard reading 87 for 5.

Often dubbed as Bangladesh’s crisis man, Mahmudullah said he definitely enjoyed bringing his side back into the match with his bat. “Yes, I do [enjoy being the crisis man]. The pressure gives me the opportunity to get into my rhythm and give back to my team as well,” Mahmudullah said. “Pressure will always be there and we just need to find out ways to handle it, that’s all.”

Focused on picking singles off Rashid: Mahmudullah

However, the player Bangladesh would have scrutinized, and possibly been worried about, is spinning sensation Rashid Khan. Rashid has been in fine form with the ball, and to top that, has been contributing with the bat as well. But Mahmudullah revealed that the Bangladesh camp were consciously trying to pick singles off Rashid and not get bogged down by the slow run-rate.

“I didn’t work too much [on his variations]. We played three times in four days, so there wasn’t much time to think. I was just playing with an empty mind. We all know that Rashid Khan is one of the best strike bowlers around the world. That does not mean however that he is unplayable,” said Mahmudullah. “Maybe we couldn’t apply ourselves against him the way we wanted. In our [Mahmudullah and Imrul Kayes’s 128-run sixth-wicket] partnership, our plan was to not give Rashid our wicket. We dug deep and we saw it through till the end.”

Mustafizur Rahman’s final over heroics meant Bangladesh are still alive in the 2018 Asia Cup. They next take on Pakistan on Wednesday in a virtual semi-final, the winner of which will meet India in the final on the 28th of September.

[interaction id=”5ba356b44632af8199e5c965″]

For more news and developments, stay tuned on CricTracker.com.