Winning the Aussie way

When Mashrafe Bin Mortaza brought eight fielders to the wider slip cordon after the fall of the ninth Zimbabwe wicket, a few eyebrows must have been raised because it was something which had never been witnessed before. The enormity of the occasion -- capping off a memorable year with a fourth consecutive series win and second clean sweep at that -- must have gotten to the Bangladesh skipper and his teammates at that moment. Mashrafe said it was nothing pre-planned or anticipated, rather it came to him on the spur of the moment.

"Nasir [Hossain] was shouting, 'hey everyone come to the slip', and that's when I thought that everyone should come to slips like Australia once did," said the Bangladesh skipper while explaining the move, referencing the usual Australian way of a heavily-cordoned slip region in Test matches, during the post-match press conference.

Mustafizur, a sensational discovery for Bangladesh, was denied a sixth wicket in the third and final one-day international against Zimbabwe. But the left-armer, who has already earned a niche in world cricket with his famous cutters, finished the game with 5-34, his third five-wicket haul in nine one-day appearances. Photos: Firoz Ahmed

But having beaten the same opposition 5-0 only a year ago and a number of times over the last few years, one would have thought that the style of preparing for the celebrations was a little over-the-top. Opener Tamim Iqbal, who had earlier played a composed knock of 73 to set up a challenging total, thought it was very much in-sync with the rivalry as he felt that Bangladesh still feel tension and excitement whenever they play against Zimbabwe.

"Personally, I think the kind of pressure we fall under [when we play] against Zimbabwe, we don't face [when playing against any other team]," the dashing opener said.

"Against Zimbabwe we feel that we have to win and I don't think this will ever end. When we play against Australia, they get scared because they can't lose to us at all," added Tamim, who won the man-of-the-match award.