Fifty for ‘Tamim-haters’

Bangladeshi master blaster opener Tamim Iqbal gave a brilliant reply to "Tamim-haters" by scoring his 31st half-century in the final match of three-match ODI series against South Africa today.

After his duck in the first match and one digit knock in the second against South Africa at Mirpur, Tamim was "flushed away" with criticism in social media.

Maybe the dashing opener was thinking about giving a befitting reply in his home stadium.

After a fantabulous performance by the bowling side to restrict visiting Proteas to just 168 runs, Tamim maintained the tempo of the chase with his opening partner Soumya Sarkar.

The way they were smashing the Proteas bowlers, it seemed they were given only 20 overs to chase down a revised target of 170.

The game was reduced to a 40-over match after rain interrupted the match in the first innings.

However, Tamim was more patient than Soumya. The veteran opener scored his fifty in 70 balls, hitting only five boundaries. On the other hand, Soumya reached his fifty in 41 balls.

Meanwhile, the southpaw from Chittagong has better records in his home stadium.

In Chittagong, Tamim has played a total of 13 matches and hit 30+ scores in seven matches, with four of them converting into half-centuries.