Taskin shines from ruins

If Bangladesh want to take something positive from their horrific performance against South Africa on Tuesday, that has to be Taskin Ahmed.

Defending a meagre total of 85, the right-arm pacer gave away only 18 runs in his four overs and picked up a couple of wickets with an exhibition of fast bowling.

In his four-over spell, Taskin had 17 dot deliveries. His first wicket came in the final delivery of the first over, a delivery nipping back of the seam to trap Reeza Hendricks plumb in front.

His next came when he produced another brilliant moment of seam movement as his 142 kph delivery nicked Aiden Markram’s outside edge to hand Mohammad Naim a dolly at slip. Taskin could have had another with an inswinger in the next delivery, but the ball beat Temba Bavuma before going over the stumps.

But Taskin’s great start could not do Bangladesh any good as they did not have runs on the board to defend.

After the match, Taskin said that he tried to bowl every delivery as his best and stick to his basics.

“I tried to bowl my best ball every delivery. I tried to execute the plan. I tried to stick to the basics. There was something on this wicket, compared to the other matches. There was some movement off the seam.

“I tried to hit the deck harder, which is why I got some movements. I tried to bowl away swingers to the right-hander. When some of my in-cuts happened, the away swinger was more difficult to play for the batsman. I think that’s how I got Markram’s wicket,” he said.

Unlike some senior cricketers, Taskin accepted the criticism the Tigers have been facing saying that it was natural after their performances.

“Losing is not fun. Nobody wants to lose. We had great expectations, but we couldn’t play up to those expectations. All the criticism is quite natural. We have to accept it,” the pacer said.