Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto revealed that he was not fazed by the low total they put on against Nepal in the crucial T20 World Cup group phase game because of his faith on the bowlers.
Bangladesh put up just 106 before being bowled out in 19.3 overs but the bowlers lived up to Shanto’s expectation by dismissing Nepal for only 85 runs in 19.2 overs. In doing so, they also sent the team to the Super 8 berth.
Nepal though was left to a precarious 26-5, they scared Bangladesh massively when Kusal Malla and Dipendra Singh Airee shared 52- runs for the sixth wicket stand. However, the bowlers once again stood up by dismantling Nepal in a show of tremendous bowling as they lost last five wickets for only 7 runs to give Bangladesh a 21-run victory.
But when Bangladesh’s bowling was up to the mark, the batting was still a concern.
“Very happy the way we played this round. I hope we can continue our bowling performance, not our batting. Hope our batting performance will be fine in the next round,” Shanto said after the match.
“We are not scoring much but we know we can defend totals, if we can pick up early wickets. That is what we told the bowlers and they are very good in the field also.”
Shanto believes his team will be able to continue the momentum in the Super 8 berth also.
“We have everything. All the fast bowlers have worked really hard in the last two or three years. In this format, the bowling unit is very important and I hope they continue their form,” he remarked.
“In T20Is, momentum is always important. We have to plan for the next round and execute our plans.”
Nepal captain Rohit Paudel rued for their batting performance, saying the batters let them down when they closed in on a victory.
“As a bowling unit, we bowled really well. As a batting unit, we could have done better, especially the top order batters. We could have batted tighter. Bangladesh bowled really well with the new ball and we were under pressure after that,” he said.
“They were asking us challenging questions. We built a little partnership after that, but top order batters could have done better and taken more responsibility. We need to step up, need to know where to score runs and how to assess conditions. In the field and with the ball, we are up to the mark, we need to improve with the bat. This team has great potential. We need to back each and every player and in the upcoming World Cup, we hope to do better.”
Tanzim Hasan Sakib was adjudged Player of the Match for his 4-7 which was his career-best bowling in this format. He said he just kept the things simple to get the success.
“We just wanted to keep things simple. We wanted to bowl in good areas and did not want to panic. We knew we could defend this score,’ Sakib said.
“Everybody bowled well. As a bowling attack, we bowled well and that is why we defended the score. I just want to be aggressive and execute my plans. We are really excited for the Super Eight. We are very confident about it and hopefully we can do well.”
