World Cup 2019: Wickets at regular intervals helped us, says Mortaza

Mortaza also credited the crowd for throwing its weight behind the team, and hoped for further support in the coming matches.

Mortaza: "I have to give credit to Soumya for laying the platform [for a big total]."

Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza expressed happiness over his team's all-round performance which saw it beat South Africa by 21 runs at The Oval in the World Cup on Sunday.

"The batsmen batted really well, especially Soumya (Sarkar) at the start. Mushy (Rahim) batted really well; he plays these kind of innings with high strike-rates, so did Shakib and then Mahmudullah and Mosaddek finished it really well," Mortaza said at the presentation ceremony.

"I have to give credit to Soumya for laying the platform. I knew it was a good wicket to bat on and we knew that we had to bowl in the right areas to get wickets. I kept changing the bowlers and the good thing was that we got wickets at every stage," he added.

Mortaza also credited the crowd for throwing its weight behind the team, and hoped for further support in the coming matches. "A big crowd was behind us, and hopefully we are expecting them to come back in our next match in the same way. We are expecting the same thing, even the people watching us back home are expecting us to win and hopefully we'll do well," Mortaza said.

"The first match always sets the tone. We have been positive, won in Ireland and the momentum helped us set the tone here. After the toss, I had a doubt whether to bat or to bowl first. But it was a used wicket in the last match and we thought that batting first isn't a bad option."