Follow UsBangladesh’s batting has been way below par in the 2023 World Cup and Shakib Al Hasan knows that. They failed to chase down a target of 230 against the Netherlands in Kolkata on Saturday (October 28) and have now lost five of their six encounters. In this competition, only once they have managed to cross the 250-run mark (256 vs India), and even that was way below par on that superb Pune surface.
“I don't know what's going on. As a batting unit, I thought if you asked me to summarize our six matches, especially with the bat, we were very poor. Other than Mahmudullah Riyad and Mushfiqur Rahim, I thought they played well. But all other batsmen, we are not up to the mark. The way we know we can play, I thought we are way short of our caliber,” said devastated Shakib after the 87-run defeat.
The Netherlands scored 229 in their 50 overs and even that wouldn’t have been possible if Bangladesh hadn’t dropped catches. Scott Edwards was dropped twice on zero and the Netherlands skipper ended up getting 68 runs. In reply, Mehidy Hasan Miraz (35) was the only Bangladesh batter to touch the 30-run mark.
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“I thought we were sloppy in the field, we bowled brilliantly. Throughout this tournament, we have not been batting the way we know we can bat. That's been a big concern. And today was another day where we totally, I thought, gave Dutch the two points. It's hard to swallow. It is very difficult to digest, but these things can happen in cricket. Should give a lot of credit to the way Dutch bowled. They were very disciplined and we played some poor shots.
“I thought we were way short of confidence. We were here with high expectations. We couldn't meet our expectations, but today I thought we bowled really well after losing the toss. The kind of start we wanted we got it. We were sloppy on the field and as I said we could have restricted them to 170 - 180 probably. But having said that 230 here against Netherlands bowling, we should have chased that total.”
Bangladesh have made too many changes in the batting order in this World Cup but nothing really has worked for them. Mahmudullah is averaging 72.67 with the bat and got that hundred against South Africa, batting at No. 6. The right-hander was then used at No. 7 against the Netherlands and the game was pretty much over by then.
“We are a team which has a lot of limitations. If you talk about batting or bowling, we don't feel comfortable bowling at different times, we don't feel comfortable batting at different positions, and we don't feel comfortable facing different bowlers. So we have to adjust a lot. That's why we have to shuffle the batting order. I prefer that everyone will go to their respective places and perform,” explained Shakib.
“Actually, if everyone performed in their respective places, then it wouldn't matter much. I said this earlier in the press conference, the day before the match against South Africa, if we could bat well at the top order, the real role that Riyad (Mahmudullah) and Mushfiqur had, the role that we had thought about before coming to the World Cup, that would have been perfect.
“The form that Riyad had, would have been a perfect platform for us. Maybe the way Riyad is batting, maybe if he would have come to the top order, it would be good for our team.”
Shakib also made it clear that he doesn’t want to play the blame game. “See, it would not be right to blame anyone. Whatever the 15 players we have, we are a better team than this. I do believe this. We couldn't do anything remarkable. So from that point, our performance is very disappointing. And I am sure that everyone in the dressing room will agree that we couldn't do what we are capable of.”