Sports Desk:

Bangladesh’s leg-spinner Rishad Hossain on Saturday said that he is not afraid to bowl irrespective of whether they are right-handed or left-handed batsman as he claimed that his job is to get wickets for his team.

Sri Lanka were 100-3 at the end of the 14th over when skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto gave Rishad the ball to bowl his third over and the young leg-spinner removed Charith Assalanka and Wanindu Hasaranga in successive deliveries to bring Bangladesh back into the game.

In the following over, he put the final nail in Sri Lanka’s batting by removing Dhananjaya de Silva and his sensational performance of 3-22 in four overs limited their opponents to 124-9 in their 20 overs which Bangladesh chased down with one over to spare.

“When I go to bowl, I don’t watch anything like right-handed or left-handed. When I go to bowl, I have to do what the team wants from me. I have no problem with right-handed or left-handed,” Rishad told reporters in the mixed zone after the match.

“I don’t bowl out of fear. I have always tried to get wickets for the team whenever I come to the bowling. If I get a wicket, it will change the course of the game,” he said, adding that he is happy to earn the man of the match award in his World Cup debut.

“Everything is fine, feeling good actually. I became the man of the match in my first World Cup match. Everything is looking good together,” he said.

“I tried to understand what could happen on the wicket after delivering two or four balls and the rest is upon God’s will,” he added.

Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto said that he was confident about Rishad as he revealed that he is well prepared and always wanted to deliver.

“I think he bowled exceptionally well and he is doing that for the last couple of series. Like the way he prepares and practices, it is very good. We always struggled because we didn’t have a leg-spinner and I think that gap is filled. I hope he will contribute in the same manner in the coming matches,” said Najmul.

“I always have confidence in him as he is a wicket-taking bowler. Everyone knows it is not easy to hit the leg-spinners. You can hit one or two boundaries but there is an opportunity to pick wickets.

“As a captain, I wanted him to pick one or two wickets and he did that,” he concluded.