Cricket World Cup 2019: Bangladesh teammates says sorry to Shakib Al Hasan
Skipper Mortaza says there are chinks that need to be ironed out
London: The Bangladesh team is feeling sorry for Shakib Al Hasan, who did everything possible to ensure that their team marches ahead but still fell short.
Shakib produced a record-equalling performance for the most fifty-plus scores in a single World Cup, held by Sachin Tendulkar, when he scored his seventh half-century against Pakistan on Friday.
He ended his campaign with 606 runs from this World Cup — making him third among most runs scored in a single World Cup.
After their last game, skipper Mashrafe Mortaza said: “I think I should talk about Shakib. He has been absolutely brilliant. He has done what he could do best. I really feel sorry for him ... in fact, not only me but the whole team feels sorry for him.”
He said if they had all played the way Shakib did, the team should have been in a different zone.
“I think this is one of his best performances of all time in a World Cup.
“It is unfortunate that we did not make the semis. Shakib knew what his role was and what his job going forward will be. Hopefully, the boys will step up with him next time.”
However, the skipper did not want to point fingers at his players.
He attributed the showing to a bit of hard luck on the team: “I think the boys gave their best. Surely there are a few chinks that we need to iron out and improve. Although we had identified those areas, we just did not manage to sort them out. The whole team is disappointed ... We surely could have finished a little bit better than what we did.”
Talks about the pros and cons of their performance, Mortaza explained: “I think our bowling and fielding has been very disappointing. But on the positive side, it was Shakib’s batting. I think we can take a lot of positives from his batting. We now also have the confidence that we can score 300 or sometimes even more.”
Despite not making it to the last four, Mortaza had some good words to say about the present format of the tournament where all teams play each other.
“This way every team is exposed to other teams. It’s been very exciting, playing each other, to know our strengths and our weaknesses, and how we can improve our game going forward. In all, it was really a very exciting tournament.”