'Never seen such dew in my life' - Al-Amin
Bangladesh seamer Al-Amin Hossain hasn't played too many evening matches in his young career, so the dew on the outfield of the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium surprised him
Mohammad Isam in Chittagong
18-Mar-2014
Bangladesh seamer Al-Amin Hossain hasn't played too many evening matches in his young career, so the dew on the outfield of the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium surprised him. Ultimately, it was a matter of controlling the ball when delivering it. Bangladesh did that right against Nepal, restricting them to an under-par 126 and setting up their eight-wicket win.
It was a challenge from the start for Al-Amin, who had to contend with a wet seam early in his first over. Despite a difficult first over, in which he bowled three wides and conceded a boundary, he ended up with an impressive 2 for 17 from four overs.
"The dew made it hard to control from the first over," Al-Amin said. "I was thinking afterwards that I had to make amends in the next three overs. The wicket had grass, and I had to make it count.
"It is my first (T20) World Cup, and just my third T20 match at this level. I thought my bowling in the first match wasn't too bad but I had to improve on it. I was trying to make a comeback in this game and it went pretty well."
He removed Sagar Pun off a catch to cover and two balls later, he had Gyanendra Malla with an excellent delivery that cut back in to the right-hander from a length, trapping him leg-before. Al-Amin has been training to bowl cross-seam deliveries to counter any trouble when bowling with a straight seam.
"I bowled a few wides but I must say, I have never faced such dew in my life. I saw the seam was wet when I looked at it before bowling the second ball. I bowled cross-seam for a while and then I used the seam when it was better," he said.
If the spinners had picked up wickets like they did against Afghanistan, Bangladesh would have finished off the game quicker. Al-Amin added that Nepal's eventual score wasn't good enough.
"They batted defensively, and I think they wanted to bat 20 overs. They didn't take too many chances. I think 126 is a normal score, not a large one. There was no chance to relax.
"This is a do-or-die match. We tried to play good cricket. We took a few early wickets but if Shakib bhai [Al Hasan] and Raj bhai [Abdur Razzak] could have got us a few more in the middle overs, we could have wrapped them up for a smaller total," he said.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo's Bangladesh correspondent. He tweets here