Tamim: I'm not someone who likes to point finger at young players
Collected
|| CF DESK ||
New skipper Litton sets sights on series wins
6 hrs ago
Hosts Bangladesh won the series 2-1 against Sri Lanka for the first time with a defeat in the third ODI, however, they stand top of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Super League table with 50 points. Tamim Iqbal, Bangladesh's ODI captain, is not a man who likes to blame his players when things don't go as planned, said after the match loss.
Bangladesh had to rely on its most experienced campaigners in the batting department, which came from the shoulders of Tamim, Mushfiqur Rahim, and Mahmudullah in this series.
Mushfiq was named man of the series after scoring 237 runs, while Mahmudllah scored 148 runs with two half centuries. Tamim got the series off to a fantastic start, scoring 52 in the opening ODI. However, the relatively young batsmen of the line-up had failed. But Tamim confirmed that he is not an individual that would point at his own men.
“(Dependency on seniors a worry?) It is, but I am someone who keeps believing in youngsters. I don't point fingers at them, because I know how hard they try. If they perform we will become a better team but it's always easy to criticise. I'm not someone who will criticise my own players” said Tamim after the match.
Liton Das, the opening batsman, was dropped for the third ODI after scoring only 25 runs in the previous two games and failing to score regularly in the last eight. With high expectations, Mohammad Naim was brought in to replace Liton, but he only managed to score one run. Following his duck in the first game, Mohammad Mithun was dropped in the middle-over.
BCB announces Bangladesh U-19 squad for Sri Lanka ODI series
19 Apr 25
“Liton had his fare share [of opportunities]. He has been there for eight or nine ODIs where he unfortunately couldn't perform to his ability. But at the end of the day that [getting dropped] is not the end for Liton. We all know how good and special he is. It's just that you need to try some other players,”
“Yes, you can argue about Soumya and Naim but everybody felt, including me, that Naim should get a chance because of the way he has batting recently, say it in the nets or in a game. Unfortunately he didn't score [Friday]. I hope he'll get more opportunities. I feel that we've a better combination if we have a right-handed batsman to open with me. But it doesn’t matter what I want, if someone else is performing they'll get their fare chances,” Tamim explained.
The southpaw said the 10 points lost in the third ODI might come back to haunt them going ahead in the Super League. He admits same old mistake of dropping important catches at important times cost them and shouldn’t forget about that just because they have won the series.
“The Super League is a competition where you can't be happy just by winning the series and that there's nothing more to achieve. You never know these 10 points might make us suffer in the future, you're never sure of that. When we had an opportunity we should've finished it well. I've said this many times that we've won the series but I feel that we've not played our best game,”
“We're of a better potential as a batting unit. We can say we've actually bowled well and fielding we were good in first two games but [Friday] we made the same old mistake of dropping important catches at important times. I am disappointed. We should not forget the mistakes just because we won the series. There are a lot of things that needs to be addressed” he further added.
