Ahead of the T20 World Cup, Tanzim Hasan Sakib's spot in the squad turned out to be a topic of discussion after he was chosen ahead of Mohammad Saifuddin. The selection panel was at the receiving end considering Saifuddin looked to be in better shape than Tanzim and also picked more wickets than him in the last edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), reports Cricbuzz.
Selectors insisted that they felt Tanzim is more aggressive and as a result was picked ahead of Saifuddin as the fourth seam bowler of the squad that had pace trio - Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman and Shoriful Islam.
Tanzim can claim himself lucky as his place in the playing XI opened up due to the injury of Shoriful Islam that he sustained during the warm-up game against India. The pacer bowled pretty well against Sri Lanka (1-24) in their opening game of the tournament but seemed determined to seize his opportunity against South Africa to repay the faith of the team management and the selection panel.
Tanzim rattled the South African top-order by maintaining the right line and length and picked three crucial wickets inside the power-play and later completed his quota with career best figures of 3-18. Towhid Hridoy backed Tanzim's selection and insisted that he is carrying a clear mind when the cherry is in his hand.
"We all know Sakib is very much capable and so we trust him and in the last couple of months and couple of matches he bowled really well," Hridoy said. "He has a very clear mind and today also he bowled really well and he changed the match and yeah that was a good decision for us (to trust Sakib)."
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