A clear reason behind Bangladesh’s loss to Australia last evening was their sluggish start in the powerplay. The first 6 overs are vital in the outcome of the game, and it was in that phase, where the Bangladeshis fumbled against the Kangaroos. With their next game up against India, the Tigers are determined to not repeat the same mistake.
All rounder Shakib Al Hasan admitted that Bangladesh wanted to improve in the powerplay overs. “I think we can improve in the first six overs, with our batting,” Shakib said. “We scored only 30-odd runs in our six overs. Here in India most of the teams are scoring 45-50 runs in the first six overs because that’s the best time to bat, I feel. I think that’s the part where we lost the game. If we had scored 15-20 runs more, that would have been a different ball game altogether. Batsmen who are getting runs need to contribute a bit more and finish the game. We need to get 170-180 runs, since that’s what the average score is on this ground.”
Elaborating on the need to improve their fielding, Shakib said, “We would like to take all the catches. We’d love to save runs in ground fielding. We couldn’t do it yesterday. It was disappointing because we have some young players and we have some outstanding fielders. If you look at our side, most of the matches we have been doing really well in fielding. These things might happen in one or two games. Anyone can miss a catch. I don’t want to make that an excuse for the loss.”