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“We Are Almost There”: Bangladesh Captain Shakib Al Hasan On Losing Close Games Against India

Shakib al Hasan
Written by Shreyas Vyas

Bangladesh put in a gallant performance against India on Wednesday, but eventually ended 5 runs short of the revised target according to DLS method in a Group 2 match of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup at Adelaide. India had posted 184 runs on the board after being put in to bat by Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan. 

Litton Das got Bangladesh off to a flying start as he slammed a 21-ball half-century, the second fastest of this tournament. But with the score on 66 for no loss  in 7 overs, rain came pouring down on the Adelaide Oval. At that point, Bangladesh were 17 runs ahead of the par score.

The match started after a delay of around 45 minutes and Bangladesh’s revised target was 151 runs in 16 overs. The equation was still in favour of Bangladesh but a direct hit from KL Rahul ended Litton Das’ stay in the middle.

That led to a collapse as Bangladesh kept losing wickets at regular intervals as the pace bowlers brought India back in the match.

“It’s been the story when we play against India, we are almost there but we don’t finish the line. Both teams enjoyed it, it was a great game and that’s what we wanted. At the end someone has to win and someone has to lose.

“He’s [Litton Das] our best batsman going around. The way he batted in the powerplay gave us a lot of momentum and gave us the belief that we could chase this with the short boundaries here. If you look at India’s top four, they are very dangerous. Our plan was to get those 4 and that’s why we bowled Taskin through. Unfortunately he did not pick wickets but he was very economical.

“Not much, we have been very relaxed and not talking too much about cricket in this World Cup. We have one more match to go and we want to concentrate on that,” Shakib said.

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Shreyas Vyas