'I believe T20 is my format'

Sabbir Rahman has described his 122 off 61 balls against the Barisal Bulls as one of the best innings that he has ever played. He was however distraught at the fact that Rajshahi's middle order was not able to take his side past the finish line.

“I believe that T20 cricket is my format. It is through T20 that I got into the national team and it is through T20 that I got into the Test team as well. I believe this is my tournament and this is my format.

“And so a big score for me in this format is always around the corner. But you know, this is not the end. I scored 122 in 61 balls today and this is a record. Tomorrow someone else will arrive to break this record,” said Sabbir after scoring the highest score in BPL history yesterday.

Apart from the fact that Sabbir was able to dispatch the bowlers to all corners of the ground, what was also noticeable was the way he celebrated with immense enthusiasm after each of his sixes. He punched the air every time he hit a six. It was a surprise considering that Rajshahi had a long chase on the cards.

“I celebrate to encourage myself, to lift up my spirit. It helps me focus. When I do that, I remain focused, when I don't, I am calm and I tend to lose that hitting spree. I enjoy celebrating like that,” said Sabbir.

His knock was so powerful that following his wicket, almost every player on the field made sure to walk up to him and give him at least a pat on the back. It was a special knock, something that all the players and spectators on the ground were very much aware of.

Barisal's Shahriar Nafees described the innings as the best he had ever seen in Bangladesh.

“I have never seen such a good T20 knock in Bangladesh. I think what's important to note is that we generally watch only the Indian Premier League. The lengths of the boundaries we have here in Mirpur are really big.

“And I think only the grounds in Australia can match it. The way he cleared these long boundaries so easily was amazing to see. In my eyes, this is definitely the best innings I have seen in Bangladesh,” said Nafees.

Despite Sabbir's heroics, Rajshahi ended up losing the game. For the second time in the tournament, they lost a match that they should have packed up comfortably. On November 9 they needed seven runs off the last over with three wickets in hand against Khulna Titans, but squandered that. Yesterday, they needed nine and failed yet again.

It is a fate that Sabbir hopes will change very soon.

“I don't know what the batsmen think in the last over. Do they want to hit a six or do they want to take six runs in six balls.

“I think we need to be mentally strong. We lost both the games because we wanted to hit sixes, when instead we could have taken singles and won the game easily,” reckoned Sabbir.