Bangladesh have waited for a leg-spinner for years. They got one nearly a decade ago but that shuttle misfired even before it took off, and then they had to wait until 2023 to land another.
There was desperateness to it. To the extent that when Rishad Hossain was picked for their white-ball tour of New Zealand in December 2023, then selector Habibul Bashar said that they did so because of the lack of options they had.
Fast forward six months, Rishad just revved Bangladesh to victory in their opening game of the T20 World Cup, picking up his career-best figures of 3-22.
His performance was one to behold. With six overs to go, Sri Lanka were firmly placed at 100-3, eyeing a big finish.
Rishad had other plans. In the first ball of his third over, he lured Charith Asalanka into hitting into the bigger side of the ground and the Lankan took the bait to get hooked in Shakib Al Hasan鈥檚 hands.
Then, Wanindu Hasaranga, moving leg side, had no answer to the turn the Bangladesh leggie found, edging it to Soumya Sarkar at slip in the next ball.
The best of the lot came in his next over as Rishad got one to rip and as Dhananjaya de Silva missed, his feet came out of the popping crease, and Liton Das took no time to whip the bails off.
From 100-3, Sri Lanka were suddenly at 109-6 鈥� a collapse they could not recover from, resulting in a Bangladesh win.
Rishad came into the tournament with good form, picking up four wickets with an economy of just 4.4 in the USA series, and continued on that in the Sri Lanka game, and playing the lead role in ensuring that the under pressure Tigers managed to get a winning start.
鈥業 am feeling really good to be the Player of the Match in my debut World Cup game. I was not nervous for a single moment. I don鈥檛 bowl with fear.鈥� he said.
鈥業 tried to bowl by maintaining line and length. And after three or four deliveries, everything came under my control.鈥�
Skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto also praised the 6鈥�3鈥� leg-spinner following the game.
鈥楬e has bowled extraordinarily well. I think he has bowled well in the last few series. The way he practices, and his preparation are very good. We always struggled that we didn鈥檛 have a leg spinner. So, that place is filled up for us. I hope he will contribute in the upcoming matches,鈥� he said.
Despite the win, the celebrations were pretty muted from the team as Rishad said their goals were bigger.
鈥榃e didn鈥檛 celebrate the victory in the dressing room after the match. Rather, we were normal since our goal is big,鈥� he said in the mixed zone.
However, when asked about that goal, the 21-year-old left it to the future, saying 鈥榶ou will see.鈥�