Bangladesh batter Sobhana Mostary believes her ability to play square of the wicket helped her make the most of the conditions against Australia in the second ODI of the three-match series.

Sobhana made history with her maiden ODI century, but her record-breaking effort was not enough to prevent Bangladesh from slipping to a nine-wicket defeat at Allan Border Field in Brisbane on Sunday. Australia chased down Bangladesh’s 220-6 in just 28.1 overs, reaching 221-1 with 131 balls to spare to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.

“My shots square off the wicket have always been good. I like to play cut shots. Even if it’s a turning wicket or a low wicket, I want to play cut shots,” Sobhana told Cricbuzz on Sunday following her brilliant effort.

“So, I have always practiced this since I was young. So, when I heard that, actually, here, for example, before coming, Shaon Bhai, the national team analyst, was saying, ‘Sobhana, play square of the wicket there. You’ll see most balls coming behind.’ And Supta Apu was saying, ‘You’re good at cut shots, you can score a lot of runs.’ So, these small pieces of information from others also actually came in handy,” she said.

“I would say the wicket is very good. But against Australia’s bowling they were very good and they were bowling in very good areas,” she said.

“Like, we have heard before that Australia plays well square of the wicket. So, today I feel I grabbed this opportunity,” she said.

Despite the heavy defeat, Sobhana’s 118 off 134 balls was a landmark achievement for Bangladesh women’s cricket. Her century was the first by a Bangladesh batter against Australia and the first by a Bangladeshi woman on Australian soil.

Sobhana said she did not look too far ahead when she joined Nigar Sultana at the crease, with Bangladesh reeling at 8-3.

“Perhaps I scored the century because I was confident that I was able to do it. But during the game, it never felt to me like I would score 100,” said Sobhana.

“My target was, at first, the kind of situation I was in, 3 wickets for 8 runs, so Jyoti Apu and I wanted to build. So, only after reaching 50 did it actually feel to me like I could achieve 100 as well. So, this confidence of mine actually encouraged me to score 100,” she said.

Sobhana attributed her success to patience and a clear plan against Australia’s disciplined bowling attack, waiting for opportunities to score square of the wicket while resisting the temptation to force the pace.

“I was thinking that actually, when they bowl very few bad balls, I still feel I play well square of the wicket. I was actually waiting repeatedly for that ball. If you look at my map, most of my runs came from square cuts and covers. So, I was actually waiting for that ball. Other than that, any other ball they were bowling, I was either taking a single or defending. I was actually trying to build the innings,” she concluded.