Bangladesh opening batsman and the stand-in skipper for the series against Sri Lanka, Tamim Iqbal has asked his batters to be more consistent a take up more responsibilities if they harbour hopes of making a comeback in the ongoing 3 match ODI series against Sri Lanka. The visitors were thrashed by 91 runs by Sri Lanka in the series opener in Colombo.
It also turned out to be the final ODI match for veteran fast bowler Lasith Malinga. He bagged 3 important wickets which helped Sri Lanka restrict Bangladesh to a score of 223 in the 42nd in their bid to chase a stiff target of 315. Tamim Iqbal feels that Bangladesh can still make a comeback in the series. However, he feels they need to regroup as a unit.
He further added that a batsman scoring 50-60’s should go onto take the responsibility of scoring big. “We are still in the series. I think we need to just regroup and the main thing is if you want to do something in this series, people have to take responsibilities. People who get starts, who will get 50-60 or 70s will have to take the responsibility to make it big.
Because at one point if you see we lost three early wickets. And then Mushi [Mushfiqur Rahim] and Sabbir [Rahman] were batting. They were doing really well, the run rate wasn”t an issue.
We never gave ourselves the opportunities said, Tamim Iqbal
“Even if you see at the end, in the 42nd over, we bowled out ourselves but the score was 220-225. If batsmen were batting at that stage we probably could have added 15-20 more runs. We probably had to chase 70-80 at the last 10. But we never gave ourselves that opportunity. I thought Mushfiq and Sabbir”s partnership was the key. But Sabbir got out at the wrong time.
“Our start was very poor today, we lost three wickets for 30 runs. Even after that, the way we recovered, if that partnership could have added 60-70 more runs then the match could have been different. I think the most important thing is whoever gets in he has to make it big. Because in cricket there will be times in which some batsmen will get good deliveries, will get out early. These things can happen. The main thing is whoever gets in, he has to make it count,” he said.
Meanwhile, Tamim Iqbal was pretty impressed with fast bowler Shafiul Islam. He bagged 3 wickets in the match. However, the overall bowling performance of Bangladesh was far from impressive. “Death bowling was a concern for us actually. But I think we did very well today. Specially Mustafiz and Shafiul. Especially Shafiul, because it”s difficult for anyone to come like this and perform. It”s very difficult for any cricketer. He did really nice today.
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“With the new ball, we were disappointed because it was very rare that they hit a good ball for four or took a risk. It was rather a short ball or a ball outside leg. So, in this area, we need to think and come back very strongly because normally it”s a very good wicket.
And if you give away boundaries on a good wicket then it becomes difficult. But the bowlers I have, I have complete trust in them. I am sure they will find a way and come back strongly,” Tamim said. He also feels that Bangladesh should improve in the fielding departments in the next two games. The 2nd ODI will be played on 28th July.
