‘Positive’ Shamim shines bright

Shamim Hossain, following his Under-19 World Cup triumph in 2020, was accelerated into the national team’s Twenty20 Internationals fray due to the Tigers’ lack of a power-hitter at the death.

But a series of poor outings saw him axed from the national side and also out of the limelight.

The ongoing edition of the Bangladesh Premier League was an opportunity for him to grab the attention back again but his batting position (7) meant that he got only six opportunities to bat in 10 matches, where he could only play one mentionable innings, which was against Fortune Barishal. Shamim scored an unbeaten 44 off 24 balls in that innings but it mattered little as they were chasing 239 and were already out of the game.

However, on Sunday, he finally got an opportunity to bat up top, at three, chasing 171 and he took that opportunity with both hands.

The left-handed batter played a composed innings with some great stroke-making, ensuring his side’s win and their qualification for the second qualifier.

Shamim reached his fifty off 36 balls and played 15 more balls before ending on 71, an innings where he hit four fours and four sixes.

That innings allowed Rangpur to come out of the trouble they smelt by losing opener Mohammad Naim early and kept them in the game despite skipper Nurul Hasan Sohan and Nicolas Pooran failing in the middle-order.

Shamim’s innings was the match-defining one, leading to him gathering praise from the opposition coach.

“Unfortunately, he [Shamim] doesn’t get to bat at the top-order and usually where he bats, he has to play one-dimensionally and attack. When he gets the opportunity to play this kind of innings, he will be able to organise himself better and I am very hopeful about him.

“I always rate him highly not because of his ability to play shots or his aggressive batting, but for his mentality. He has the mentality required in this format,” Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, the Fortune Barishal head coach, said after the match.

Shamim also reciprocated what Fahim said, “I bat at number 7-8. It’s not easy to play at that position. Whenever I play, I try to finish the match. But that is not easy.”

The left-handed batter believes if he had a little more time in the international arena, he could have fared better and added that he just tried to stay positive throughout his innings on Sunday.

“I did not think much. I always think positively and try to play positive shots. I don’t think about the bad things,” Shamim said in the post-match press conference.

Positivity allowed the youngster to play his shots and take his team another step closer to the title. And as Rangpur now make their final thrust towards the trophy they last won in 2017, they will hope the 22-year-old will use his positivity and confidence to help them keep the momentum.