'Taskin delivered when needed'

One did not need a second glance at Taskin Ahmed to realise how excited he was when he was given the new ball by his skipper. Having finally been cleared by the ICC to bowl in international cricket, Taskin was steaming in right from the word go.

Unfortunately, the excitement got the better of him. For most of his initial spells he seemed to concentrate more on his pace rather than the line and length. To his credit though he held his nerve towards the end and bowled a series of full-length deliveries to restrict the Afghans.

Bangladesh's new bowling coach Courtney Walsh felt that Taskin had done well in his first game since his return from suspension despite giving away 49 runs in his first six overs. He praised Taskin for being able to turn things around and scalp four wickets in his last two overs. 

"I thought he did very well. He was under a bit of pressure before the game. He was reported by the ICC. So to come into a game of this nature after not playing for 10 months would have been hard. I think he was trying a little bit too hard at the beginning.

"But he delivered what we needed him to do. Credit to him for how he came back. He could have had a completely bad day and that could have cost us the match," said Walsh while speaking to reporters following training at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.

"We sent messages to try to get him to relax and remember what we were doing in practice. Everyone tried to fit in as best as they could. I think everybody was keen because we hadn't played for a while. We were match rusty. The boys turned it around and did very well," he added.