Shakib Al Hasan confident despite shaky start against Afghanistan
Sep 27, 2016 at 1:00 PM
Afghanistan had their noses well in front till the last few overs in the first ODI against Bangladesh at Mirpur. A likely upset seemed to be on cards as the spirited Afghan batsmen needed just 28 runs from 4 overs. However, a brilliant over from all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, where just one run was scored, turned the match on its head. A decisive final over from the energetic Taskin Ahmed was enough for Bangladesh to get out of jail.
The ODI though would worry Bangladesh quite a bit. Their new ball bowlers were initially plundered for plenty as the pacers remained ineffective. According to Shakib, the reason behind this was the fact that the hosts were short of match practice. On the sidelines of a practice session, he admitted that the Bangladeshis would get better with every passing game.
“The most important practice is to stay in the game and to play the game,” said Shakib. “No matter how much you run or practice, match fitness is something else altogether. When you keep playing matches, things become a lot easier. No matter what situation you try to create at practice, it won’t reach that level.”
Speaking about the match-turning moment, he said, “I think the turning points were when I conceded one and, before that, the breakthrough I made when they were getting a big stand.” “Actually our job is not to think; our job is to do it. We have to keep believing that we can win this game and that belief was there. Because we were playing after almost a year, it was difficult for a while. It was in the body language. Our fielding wasn’t that good. This will get better soon.”
Star batsman Mahmudullah too voiced a similar opinion like Shakib and said that the hosts should have won earlier. “I think that in such a situation, we should definitely win the game. With all due respect to Afghanistan, we should have won the game a lot earlier considering the difference in our rankings. We have lost a lot of close matches due to small errors. I think that is slowly starting to change.”