SA vs BAN 1st T20I: If One Batsman Did Well In The Middle Overs, We Could Have Won Easily: Soumya Sarkar

Oct 27, 2017 at 3:11 PM

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SA vs BAN 1st T20I: If One Batsman Did Well In The Middle Overs, We Could Have Won Easily: Soumya Sarkar

Bangladesh’s opener Soumya Sarkar has rued the lack of big contributions from the middle-order batsmen after his side’s losing streak in South Africa continued with a 20-run defeat in the first T20 International on Thursday (October 26).

The left-handed batsman said that a big innings from one of their No. 3 – 6 – Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman or Mahmudullah -in the last ten overs while chasing a robust 196. Sarkar’s comments came after the four aforementioned players could contribute only 48 runs in the chase as even a change in format could not inspire a turn around for the beleaguered visitors.

Bangladesh’s middle order failed to fire (Credits: AFP)

“If someone from No. 3 to 6 could have played a big innings in the last 10 overs, it would have helped us,” Sarkar said after the loss. “Then we would have had a set batsman at the crease in the last 10 overs, making things easier for us. They made nearly 200 runs but we also made 175. If one batsman did well in the middle overs, we could have won the game easily. But this [performance] will give us confidence that we can also score 200 runs.”

Sarkar top-scored for the visitors (Credits: Getty)

When Sarkar departed after playing a boundary-filled knock of 47, Bangladesh were all on course with the scoreboard reading a promising 92 in 9 overs. However, the middle-order floundered once again as the visitors’ challenge ended on 175 for 9.

Quinton de Kock scored 59 off 44 (Credits: Getty)

Sarkar further defended his team’s selection for this match after the visitors picked one batsman less to accommodate four pace bowlers and two front-line spinners.

“If you want to talk about negative things, there are a lot of things to talk about,” he said. “If the bowlers did well and we played one less, you would have said we should have picked one extra bowler. Now that the batsmen couldn’t do the job, you are saying we needed one more batsman.

“There’s no end to these things; you think that we had one batsman less, but our captain and team management thought this was the best way to go about things,” he added.

At the same time, Sarkar was also critical of Bangladesh’s ‘dot-ball’ issues.

“Dot balls are a big problem in T20s. We have to reduce that in the next game. Even when we bowled or fielded, we should have saved more runs or not given away the no-ball that went for four. They would have scored 20 runs fewer. Chasing 170-odd would have been a different story,” said Sarkar.

 

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