Najmul negates nerve to do it again

In the first Twenty20 International of the series, Najmul Hossain Shanto displayed his array of shots to ensure a Bangladesh win.

On Sunday, the challenge was different. There was no blistering start from the openers, the target was deceitful, and the pitch was playing some tricks.

From there, the left-handed batter partnered with Towhid Hridoy and Mehidy Hasan Miraz to bring Bangladesh close. And yet, it was not done.

When Shakib Al Hasan and Afif Hossain returned playing meaningless shots, the Tigers were still 13 runs away from a historic series win, with two overs to go. The Bangladesh bench looked nervous. The crowd went silent.

Najmul though was unphased. In the first ball of the penultimate over, he bisected the two fielders set at deep fine leg and deep square leg to fetch four off Chris Jordan, then played it in the same direction to pick up two runs.

Suddenly, it turned into six from 10 balls, and the pressure was flipped to England’s shoulder.

And after a single in the next ball, Taskin Ahmed hit two boundaries on the trot to send England packing.

Najmul stayed unbeaten on 46 off 47 balls, hitting three fours. In the first match, he had played 17 balls less, scoring five runs more.

While this innings was more in line with the general perception of him as a batter, which is that he takes time at the crease, something that is considered contradictory to the ‘see the ball, hit the ball’ ideology of the format.

However, the left-handed batter proved on Thursday that he can indeed bat at a very high strike rate, and on Sunday, he showed that he can hold on to his nerve when required and guide his team to the win.

Najmul has been on a purple patch for quite some time now as he has three fifties in his last five innings alongside this innings, besides his 516 runs in the latest edition of the Bangladesh Premier League, where he was adjudged Player of the Tournament.

The confidence that he has achieved from scoring consistently has now transpired into other aspects as well as he has also been brilliant in the field. In the first match, he took three brilliant catches alongside a six-saving effort. On Sunday, he took another brilliant catch diving in to dismiss the set Ben Duckett.

Najmul was promised to be the next big thing for Bangladesh cricket for a long time. While he is still not that yet, his recent performances have sent his career graph upwards, something that will please the Bangladeshi cricketing fraternity.