Mortaza, Mathews laud Iqbal's brave act

Bangladesh's Tamim Iqbal, with his injured left hand covered in a cast, leaves the field at the end of first innings during the Unimoni Asia Cup ODI against Sri Lanka on Saturday.

There have been more than a few acts of bravery on a cricket field. The one that quickly comes to mind is legendary Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble bowling with a broken jaw in the 2002 Antigua Test against the West Indies.
Kumble had been hit on the jaw by Merv Dillon while batting at No.7 and had spat out blood. He then came out with bandage on his face and went on to dismiss the great Brian Lara.
And this year, in the UAE, the bubbly West Indian Darren Sammy, who was rendered walking wounded after busting his knee while bowling, smoked two sixes and a boundary from four deliveries to get Peshawar Zalmi over the line against the Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League.
Kamran Akmal took a leaf out of his captain's book, winning Zalmi's match against the Lahore Qalandars, quite literally on leg. The wicketkeeper-batsman battled cramps to score an unbeaten century to put the Zalmis into the play-offs.
And on Saturday, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, the crowd were witness to another brave act, this time from Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal.
The southpaw, who suffered a fracture on his left wrist at the start of the innings against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup opener, after being hit by Suranga Lakmal in the second over, had retired hurt but came out to bat at the fall of the ninth wicket.
With a heavily bandaged hand, Iqbal joined Mushfiqur Rahim, who had scored a career-best century, to swell Bangladesh's total to 261. The pair had added a vital 31 runs.
And both captains - Bangladesh's Mashrafe Mortaza and Sri Lanka's Angelo Mathews lauded Iqbal's selfless act.
It was brave of him to come out and bat at the end. Mithun as well handled the pressure," said Mortaza.
"He made the decision to come out and bat. If he didn't want to bat, no one could push him to. The credit goes to him. He took the decision," he added.
Meanwhile, Mathews said Iqbal displayed a lot of guts. "He showed a lot of guts. Mushy (Mushfiqur) was batting really well and I thought he batted extremely well. When Mushy was out there he came in to help and those 20 or 30 runs also made the difference," said Mathews.
"Tamim showed a lot of guts to come out there and with one hand to sort of bat. It is never easy but they showed a lot of guts and credit should go to the Bangladeshis. They outplayed us in all three departments," he added.
james@khaleejtimes.com