Mehrab Hossain jr: a maiden ODI fifty, and confident of more © Getty Images Enlarge

Mehrab Hossain jr, one half of Bangladesh's newest opening pair, is confident of his rapport with Shahriar Nafees. The duo added 104 in a six-wicket victory over Zimbabwe as Bangladesh took a 2-0 series lead in the second match at Bogra yesterday.

"This was nothing new for me to open the innings with him [Nafees] because we have had experiences at different levels," Mehrab told reporters after scoring his maiden ODI fifty. "We have a very good understanding, so we enjoyed the batting. My partner was in a good form and easily played the strokes and that's why I had a different role in the match. I played a slow game but this is not my natural innings. I love to play according to the team's demand."

Nafees, who scored a brisk 67, regretted not being able to score three consecutive ODI hundreds in a row. "I learnt about the record before the match and it would have been nice for me if I could score another hundred today," he said. "But at the end I am happy that my team won the battle and it came quite convincingly.

"It is not true that we scored runs because of weak bowling attack rather I must say we played good cricket. I really enjoyed today's batting under lights because the ball came quite nicely on to the bat."

Nafees, who has hit three hundreds in a row against Zimbabwe, however, added: "We are only thinking about our next game and not about a series whitewash".