|| CF DESK ||

ICC Men's T20 World Cup co-hosts USA have put the world on notice with a satisfying final-over victory in the first T20I against Bangladesh in Houston yesterday.

Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said Bangladesh didn’t play on good wickets in their home series against Zimbabwe and that’s why Tiger batters are still struggling in their World Cup preparation series.

"We did not play on a good wicket even in the Zimbabwe series so batsman are really struggling,” Shanto said in the post-match presentation.

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) High Performance chair and BCB director Naimur Rahman Durjoy slammed Tiger captain’s statement as he said Shanto’s excuse about the home wicket is unacceptable.

“Given excuse of the wicket on abroad, just as we prepare the wicket at home, everyone takes advantage of home conditions. This is done based on the team's requests. The demand comes from the team itself. Now, if you give the excuse of the wicket, we cannot accept it. This excuse is unacceptable,” Durjoy said in Mirpur today.

However, BCB director said if the team do well in the World Cup, all these issues will be forgotten.

“If we perform well in the T20 World Cup, we will forget all these issues. Criticizing now would be too hasty. If we perform well in the World Cup, then we will stand by the team, we want to stand by the team. We believe that Bangladesh will perform well.”