Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan refused to blame the untimely rain break during the side’s five-run defeat (DLS) to India in a T20 World Cup Super 12s clash in Adelaide on Thursday.
Bangladesh pushed India on the backfoot right from the start in their run-chase of 185, with Liton Das’ breezy half-century guiding them to 66/0 from seven overs before it started raining. Bangladesh were 17 ahead of the DLS par score at this stage and would have won the contest had no further play been possible.
However, the players returned on the field with the target being revised to 151 from 16 overs, and Liton’s run-out soon after tilted the balance in India’s favour. The right-hander had struck seven fours and three sixes in a stroke-filled 60 off 27, an innings that was ended with a stunning fielding effort from KL Rahul, who fired a direct hit to the bowlers end while sprinting in from the deep mid-wicket to have the batter short on the second run.
“There are lots of moments in the match that we can say is the defining moment. Of course the way Litton was batting, his run out was crucial. We lost the momentum after the game was stopped due to rain. But we don’t have rain in our hands, so we have to accept it and play accordingly.
“Yes, it is unfortunate for Litton as he slipped twice and I am not sure whether he was running inside the pitch or through the side of the pitch, where there was grass, whether he was running from that side or not, because when he slipped for the first time, he should have been careful,”
Shakib said in the post-match presser.
Bangladesh stumbled from 84/1 to 108/6 within four overs during their chase, and while Nurul Hasan (25* off 14) and Taskin Ahmed (12* off 7) put up a fight, it wasn’t enough to get their side over the line.
Shakib, who was involved in animated discussions with the on-field umpires before the resumption of play, presumably dissatisfied with the playing conditions, then reiterated that such situations aid the batting side more while adding that maybe his batters “panicked” during the middle overs.
“I mean that’s the decision (playing after the rain) that umpires make, we don’t make decisions, you know we are here to play cricket, both teams wanted to play full 20 overs.
Unfortunately, rain interrupted but I am happy the way both the teams played really well, we were so close like the 2016 World Cup but wasn’t close enough. It was a little slippery, that suits the batting side rather than the bowling side and we should not make that an excuse.
“Most teams will get 52 in the last five overs with eight wickets in hand in these kind of conditions and we should have chased it down. With the batting line-up we had, I believed that we were capable of doing it. Maybe we panicked a bit in the middle overs, we tried to play too many shots. Nurul and Taskin batted well and brought us back in the game.”
Bangladesh will play Pakistan in their last Super 12s clash at the same venue on Sunday, November 6, and would hope for other results to go their way if they are to have any chance of making it to the semi-final.
