Afif Hossain, Mehidy Hasan praised by coach Russell Domingo

CHITTAGONG: After their match-winning combination against Afghanistan in Wednesday’s first ODI in Chittagong, Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo lavished praise on youngsters Afif Hossain and Mehidy Hasan.

Afif and Mehidy’s unbroken 174-run partnership against New Zealand at Birmingham in 2015 was the second-best seventh-wicket partnership in ODI history, trailing only England’s Jos Buttler and Adil Rashid’s 177.

It helped the hosts recover from a dangerous 45-6 to 219-6 and a four-wicket triumph with seven balls to spare.

Afif, 22, and Mehidy, two years his older and 81 not out, were both unbeaten on 93.

They contributed 79.45% of Bangladesh’s total runs, the most aggregate contribution by hitters below the number six position by any team in an ODI inning.

Domingo told the team’s computer analyst they’d put on 150 runs as Mehidy walked out to bat, he said in Chittagong.

“There’s a lot of confidence in Miraz’s (Mehidy’s) batting at the moment,” Russell Domingo told reporters.

“He has a Test hundred. He batted well in New Zealand and BPL. I know it sounds hard to believe, I thought we could still do it.

“I know how good Afif is,” he added. “I have seen him do it before in T20s. I think he is a fantastic player.

“He will be one of Bangladesh’s best white-ball players. It was really pleasing to see them bat in that particular way yesterday. I was very proud of that partnership.”

On Friday, the series’ second match will be played at the same venue.

Despite the victory, Domingo believes Bangladesh still has a long way to go.

“We have to play better cricket tomorrow than we did yesterday,” he said.

“We bowled 13 wides yesterday. We dropped a catch. We were 45-6. We need a massive improvement in yesterday’s performance in every department. We had one fantastic partnership.”

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