T20 World Cup 2024
Imrul defends Litton-Shanto’s shot selection
|| CF DESK ||
Bangladesh batter Imrul Kayes defended Litton Das and Najmul Hossain Shanto’s intent of playing big shots and acknowledged there was nothing wrong with their shot selection.
Bangladesh suffered a 28-run defeat (D/L Method) against Australia in the first match of the Super-8 clash. Tiger batters faced a tough challenge facing a strong Aussie bowling attack backed by Adam Zampa’s spin maestro.
Despite losing Tanzid Tamim early, Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto and Litton Das formed a partnership to rebuild their innings until Zampa had Litton bowled out after tempting him to sweep a slower delivery.
Zampa also got rid of Shanto by trapping him into an LBW after consecutive overs halting Bangladesh's progress. However, the former opener Imrul came into the defence of their shot selection and lauded their mindset of attacking cricket.
“Look, a batsman’s faults get identified when he misses or gets out while playing a shot. But if he could have played the shot everyone would praise the batter. I won’t say it’s a matter of shot selection, everyone tries to play successful shots, I think the batter could not execute the plans. That’s why he failed,” said Imrul in a live session with Cricfrenzy.
“Zampa has been playing International cricket for a long time so he has experience. He bowled slower deliveries and brought variations that made Litton misjudge to play it accurately and got dismissed. I won’t say their mindset was wrong, the batters were posed to play big shots but they could not execute,” he added.