Asia Cup 2018: Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur heaps praise on Mithun after win over Pakistan

The duo had built a brilliant 144-run partnership against Pakistan which had helped their side to put up a respectable total on the board.

Bangladesh’s wicket-keeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim has credited his fellow teammate Mohammad Mithun for playing a ‘positive’ game under pressure against Pakistan in their virtual semi-final of the ongoing Asia Cup.

Bangladesh batsman Mushfiqur Rahim (R) and Mohammad Mithun run between the wickets during the one day international (ODI) Asia Cup cricket match between Bangladesh and Pakistan. (AFP)

The duo had built a brilliant 144-run partnership against Pakistan which had helped their side to put up a respectable total on the board.

“He (Mithun) is a very positive guy. So I can’t tell him to play for the dot balls. I told him to back himself and make sure that in the first five-six overs, we just assess the situation, don’t worry about the run rate. We have from the 11th till 40th overs with one fielder up, and you can easily target one bowler and you can easily have some boundaries over there,” ESPNcricinfo.com quoted Rahim, as saying.

“I think the wicket was a pretty good one, so no need to take any undue risks. He complimented me very well and I really enjoyed the way I talked with him and batted with him both times,” he added.

After losing the early wickets in the match, Rahim and Mithun had contributed respective totals of 99 and 60 runs to stabilize the crumbling batting order of the team.

Later, riding on the back of Mustafizur Rahman’s impressive figures of 4/43 in the final Super Four encounter, Bangladesh went on to register a convincing 37-run victory over Pakistan.

Bangladesh will now face India on September 28 at the Dubai International Stadium to compete for the coveted trophy.