Talha Kamal
How the 12th edition of the World Cup went for Bangladesh? Until the end, Tigers were in contention for a place in the semifinals. However, Tuesday’s heartbreaking 28-run defeat to India shattered Bangladesh’s dream. After the defeat, Bangladesh ace- all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who has been in a tremendous form both with the bat and bowl said, the goal with which they came in the World Cup has not been fulfilled. Shakib also saw the lack of a little more effort from the team.
After the India defeat, today’s match against Pakistan at Lords is just a formality for Bangladesh. Chasing 315 runs against India, Tigers were confined to 286 runs. Super Shakib scored 66 runs for the team on that day, again the highest individual scorer for Bangladesh in this World Cup. After the defeat, Bangladesh got praise as they kept the pressure on India till the end. However, these lauds are not flattering Shakib at all.
In an interview after the match, he said, “We played well enough, but just not enough to win the match. We wanted to win but that was not possible.
We could not fulfill the aim with which we came into this World Cup. It’s frustrating. If we would have done few small things right, then the results would have been different.”
Apart from Shakib, only Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad played with some consistency throughout the tourney. Stalwart opener Tamim Iqbal and skipper Mashrafe Mortaza had a World Cup to forget. Without naming anyone, Shakib said application of the team should have been lot better.
“I think if we could have implemented and applied our plans well than it could have been better. It's batting, bowling and fielding all the departments. Yes, there may be many positive aspects in the whole World Cup. But the fact is these things doesn’t matter that much as at the end of the day it’s the results that matter.”
Now, there is only one match left in hand. Not to surpass the achievements of previous World Cups is what upsetting Shakib. “We won three matches in each of 2011, 2015 and 2019 World Cup.
The difference is that in this World Cup we played consistently. I will not say anything more than that. Because I think there was an opportunity to do more than that which we could not do.”
Bangladesh will lock horns against Pakistan on Friday. What will be team’s tactics today? Shakib left that question for the team management to answer. Rather, Shakib feels a bit more intense effort was needed from everyone, which could have made this World Cup memorable.
“I do not know what the plan will be (in the Pakistan match). The captain, the coach will decide how they want to play, we have to play like that. One thing I can say is that everyone tried hard, but I think we should have tried a little bit more.”
