Shakib takes full responsibility of the defeat to Afghans
Pic: Bcb
CF Correspondent
Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan shouldered the responsibility of his side’s humiliating 224-run defeat to Afghanistan in the one-off Test in Chattogram because of cutting loose the home side collapsed to all out when they got just one hour to save the Test.
Amid the continuous rain threat Afghanistan completed the victory in just 53 minutes when weather permitted some game time at late afternoon and Bangladesh was left to survive just one hour.
But Shakib sparked the collapse, playing an expensive cut shot against left-arm chinaman bowler Zahir Khan to throw away his wicket for 44.
The rest of the batsmen then couldn’t survive long against a rejuvenated Afghanistan side who was extremely hunger to win the Test.
Marking the Test result as Zero, he said: “It’s a tough pill to swallow.”
“It’s difficult to accept. It’s really disappointing. We got just one hour to survive and save the Test and we couldn’t do that. I should have taken the responsibility. I could have avoided the cut shot because it was my responsibility to lead the side from the front and survive the remaining overs. The dressing room would have felt more comfortable if I could stay in the crease,” Shakib added.
Resuming the day on 136-6, Bangladesh finally were bowled out for 173 on day five which was interrupted twice by rain. And the rain threat still loomed large but Afghanistan was such determined to win the game, they never let loose the baton.
“We have played badly and lost the match. Our recent performance was poor and it continued. Afghanistan played really better and they outplayed us in all departments.”
Shakib however said there is nothing to take any positive from such disappointing loss, a match which they targeted to bring them back to winning spree from recurring failures across the format
“As per result, there is no positive to take from here. We have done some mistakes in review too. Mehidy Hasan Miraz could avoid the review and then in that case Taijul could review his dismissal. I don’t know how many times it would take us to improve in the cricket.”
Shakib revealed that they have done badly in both batting and bowling.
“It's a combination of both - lack of application from our batsmen and the way they bowled,” he said.
“They deserve this win. After playing for 20 years, we can't say it's a buildup process. It's been a while since we played our last Test match, but Afghanistan kept the pressure on us, credit goes to their hard work. We need to forget this match soon and look forward to the T20I series. They are a very good side in that format, so we need to focus on the series, keeping the World T20 in focus.”
