Bangladesh batter Towhid Hridoy, who scored a resilient century against India in their Champions Trophy opener, believes he could have added more runs if he hadn’t been hampered by cramps. Bangladesh was reeling at 35 for 5 before Hridoy (100) and Jaker Ali (68) staged a brilliant comeback, stitching together a crucial 154-run partnership for the sixth wicket to take the team to a respectable total of 229. However, they lost the game by six wickets.
Hridoy began cramping when he reached 88 while diving for a single, making it a struggle for him to continue. He eventually became the last Bangladeshi batter to fall.
“Though it seemed easy from outside but that was not the case after losing five wickets. What happened is that I was patient during that point of time and I talked with myself how I can get out from here and I had the faith that if I can carry on, I can cover the dot balls.
“If I did not have the cramp I could have scored 20 to 30 more runs,” he said at the post-match press conference.
The 24-year-old’s century was his maiden ODI hundred.
“Yeah, it will give me the confidence in future.” Hridoy felt that had Bangladesh added 50 more runs they would have had a chance of winning the game.
“I think 270 and thereabouts could have been a better score. When we lost the early wicket, I focused on how to make the partnership. When we played, me and Jaker, we just discussed, we have to build one big partnership from here.
“If Jaker had played a big innings, then it will be easier for us. But it’s okay, it’s part of the game.” On how difficult it was to play in a tricky condition, the middle-order batter said: “After power play, if you see today’s match, when the ball got older, it was gripping. So, it was easy to take singles at that time.” “When I faced the Indian spin side I was a bit uncomfortable because they bowled well, they bowled in the good areas and if you look in our spin attack when Rishad bowled I think he bowled really well today. So, in terms of his spin, it’s a bit tricky.” Bangladesh now fly to Pakistan to play their remaining two group games against New Zealand and Pakistan.
“We know Pakistan’s condition will be different. From here we will come back stronger first.”
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