The so-near-yet-so-far syndrome for Rahim before this India encounter had become too familiar, something he didn’t want to repeat. He and Mahmudullah were the ones who got out at crucial junctures in the last over of the World T20 game in 2016 at Bangalore. His reaction on Twitter to India’s loss to WI in that tournament’s semi-final also got him a lot of criticism.

That Karthik show!

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Even last year, though he wasn’t batting but was standing behind stumps when a freaky innings by Dinesh Karthik snatched victory away from them in the Nidahas Trophy final. “We have learnt a lot from those last two games against India that went into the last over, so we discussed on how we can overcome those moments. I was telling Riyad bhai that let’s win in singles and doubles rather than going for big hits,” added Rahim while explaining the approach. These are tough lessons that players who have played the amount of cricket Rahim has around the world are bound to learn with experience, but these aren’t the toughest. The “toughest” according to Rahim in his 15 years in international cricket have been, “these last two or three weeks” where he saw teammate Shakib Al Hasan being banned for not reporting corrupt approach.

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