Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto credited his bowling unit for keeping their nerves calm in the middle overs against Sri Lanka which helped them start their ICC T20 World Cup campaign on the right note in Dallas on Saturday.

Bangladesh opted to field first at the Grand Prairie Stadium and it looked like they were on the verge of paying for it after the powerplay when Sri Lanka reached 53-2 and looked set to pose a challenging total.

However, Bangladesh’s bowling unit regrouped to restrict them to 124-9, after Rishad Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman took three wickets each while Taskin Ahmed chipped in with two scalps.

“I think we did not get a good start in bowling but later the way everyone was calm and took the decision in the middle overs especially the bowlers and the fielders, they showed a good character at that point of time,” he said.

“We know the batting was not good on such a wicket and in a pressure game, a thing like this will happen. It was a very important match for them and they tried a lot. But at the end of the day, we got two points and that is why I am feeling good,” he said.

“You can say that (the most tense match in my career) and I felt that way. Even from the last two days, we all knew (it was going to be a tense match). Personally, I felt I did not play such a pressure match before but by the grace of Allah, we could win the game. We all knew how important this match was for us,” he said.

Najmul added that though their batting unit failed to rise as per expectation he is not ready to push the panic button and insisted that whenever someone gets set, he should do the job for them.

“I don’t think we need to have a lot of worries (regarding the batting) and I would say this because it was a pressure match and at the end of the day, we want to win. If you are talking about the result, we got two points.

“All the batsmen know that we have not batted well but everyone won’t bat well every day like today Hridoy played well and Riyad bhai ended the game while Liton gave a good start. What I hope is that whoever gets set, he should win the game for us,” he said, adding that he is not losing his sleep over the wicket in New York where they are slated to take on South Africa on 10 June.

“About the New York wicket, we have seen that game between Sri Lanka and South Africa on the TV. The whole team sat together and saw that game as we did not practice that day. We planned how we should play and there is an India-Pakistan match on the 9th and that will give us another opportunity to see the wicket,” he said.

“So we have some little idea about the pitch and we have to bat and bowl according to the wicket that is prepared for our game,” he concluded.