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Bangladesh skipper Shakib al Hasan expressed concerns about his side’s poor batting performance during the Asia Cup match against Pakistan, saying that losing early wickets on a batting-friendly surface was not good. Imam-ul-Haq’s knock and Mohammad Rizwan’s sturdy 63* were enough to kick off Pakistan’s Super 4 campaign on a triumphant note with a 7-wicket victory against Bangladesh at the Gaddafi Stadium on Wednesday.
During the powerplay while batting, Bangladesh slipped to 47/4 and allowed the hosts to dominate the match from an early stage. Mehidy Hasan Miraz, the centurion against Afghanistan, registered a golden duck, before Shaheen Shah Afridi (1/42) dismissed a returning Litton Das for just 16. Mohammed Naim was then dismissed by Haris Rauf (4/19) and Naseem Shah (3/34) dismissed Towhid Hridoy.
Once again, the pace trio of Afridi, Rauf and Shaheen delivered to bundle out Bangladesh for 193 in 38.4 overs, despite half-centuries from Mushfiqur Rahim (64) and Shakib (53). The experienced Bangladesh duo had put on 100 runs for the fifth wicket, but the innings collapsed once again after Shakib’s dismissal.
The fifties from Imam (78) and Rizwan (63*) guided Pakistan to a easy seven-wicket win.
“We lost early wickets in the start, and we played some ordinary shots. On a wicket like this, we shouldn’t lose four wickets in the first ten overs but it happens. Our partnership [for the fifth wicket] was good, [I] thought we needed to bat seven or eight more overs. Very poor batting display on a surface like this, but we have to move on to the next one,” said Shakib as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
“They are the No. 1 team and these are the reasons. They have three world-class bowlers who are making things easier for them. We have been doing well in the bowling department, but batting is a bit hot and cold. We need to be more consistent,” he added.
Bangladesh’s assistant coach Nic Pothas said later that batters have to make the right decisions about their shot selection, especially against an elite pace attack.
“As a batting unit, we didn’t make the right decisions at the right time in these conditions. It was always going to be a challenge for a team in transition. You want to try to put a score on the board when you win the toss and bat first. You are also talking about an elite bowling attack. I think the options we took made life easy for that seam attack,” he said.
“Ideally, we would have liked to bat a lot deeper than that and get a score on the board. But that’s the nature of playing against top-seam attacks. We need to improve but if it was that easy, everybody would be doing it,” he added.
But seeing the positive side, Pothas felt happy that his batters faced Pakistan at least once before the World Cup. Both sides have hardly played any ODI cricket against each other recently, with their last bilateral series in 2015, which Bangladesh won 3-0 at home.
“We have not played a lot against Pakistan,” Pothas said.
“They are high on confidence at the moment. They are No. 1 in the world. They played like the best team in the world. But they played in their home conditions. They know how to play at this ground better than anybody. But this added experience makes our batters better,” he concluded.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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