Follow UsBangladesh ended their 2023 World Cup campaign with an eight-wicket defeat against Australia in Pune on Saturday (November 11). Playing their last league game and already out of the race for the semi-finals, Bangladesh were asked to bat first on a batting paradise. They finished with an underpar score of 306/8. Australia razed it down as Mitchell Marsh’s unbeaten 177 sailed the five-time champions across the finish line with 32 balls to spare.
Bangladesh’s stand-in captain, Najmul Hossain Shanto, stepping in for the injured Shakib Al Hasan, felt a couple of run outs in the middle didn’t help the team’s cause to press for a bigger score.
“We should have won from here the way we started. But I think we had two run outs in the batting and we didn't bowl well in the middle overs. So, as a team, we couldn't play well in some important moments,” Shanto said in the press conference after the defeat.
Bangladesh were 62/0 after the first powerplay. Having laid the platform, none of their batters kicked on to make a big score. Mahmudullah on 32, Shanto himself on 45 and later Nasum Ahmed on 7 were the three batters who were run out in the innings. This was, in fact, the first instance of all top seven Bangladesh batters scoring a 20+ score in an ODI innings. Yet, the highest individual score was that of Towhid Hridoy who scored 74 batting at four.
Bangladesh’s campaign was constantly marred by batters delivering lackluster performances. Playing twice in Pune, they ended up with underpar total, despite getting a good start.
A lot of it was due to constant shuffling in the batting order and Bangladesh not being used to scoring high totals due to the pitches on which they play back home.
“As bad as we batted, we are not such a bad team, still I think,” Shanto answered on being asked about the same.
“I think we have made 300 against such quality bowling. But it's also true that the more we play on good wickets, we need to have that practice/experience. We know how to make 260. So, if we can create the practice/experience of making 300, then you will see that we can make 300 or 350 regularly. ,” he explained further.
Regarding the constant changes in the batting order, Shanto said: “It would be good if we don't do it but sometimes you have to do it against a few teams, depending on the strength of the team. There was good thinking behind this, honestly. But it would have been better if we hadn't done it.”
Shanto also expects the Bangladesh batters to make use of good starts in the future. “We had more opportunities for top-order batsmen. In this situation, if the score was big from the top, I think the team would have gone to a better position. So, I hope that the scores will be big in the future. But individually, I don't worry about it,” the left-handed batter said.