NEW DELHI:
Bangladesh
's batsmen struggled mightily to chase 125 runs against
Sri Lanka
, but captain Najmul Hossain Shanto isn't too concerned because his team got off to a strong start in the
T20 World Cup
.
Towhid Hridoy
(40) and Litton Das (36) had Bangladesh coasting along at 91 for 3, but they lost five wickets for 21 runs. It was
Mahmudullah Riyad
who hit
Dasun Shanaka
for a six, giving Shanto's team a two-wicket victory.
"I don't think there are many reasons to worry. I'm saying this because it was a very intense match. We wanted to win at the end of the day. So if you think about the result, we got two points," Shanto said at the post-match press conference in Dallas.
"All the batsmen know that we didn't bat well. But not everyone plays well every day. Like Hridoy played a very good innings, Riyad finished the game, Litton gave a beautiful start after a long time. So, we are good in some areas.
"So, I hope that whoever gets set on any day should make the match win. I don't expect that all the seven batsmen in the team will play well."
Tanzid Hassan and Soumya Sarkar, the two openers, faltered, but the captain saved the team.
"As I said earlier, the game is not for the openers only. We have seven batsmen batting at the top. It's everyone's responsibility.
"As a captain, I want that whoever gets set and gets a good start, should finish the game. I hope that the openers will give a good start and finish the game. So, I hope and I am optimistic that everyone will do well."
The youthful leg-spinner
Rishad Hossain
changed the course of the match with his two wickets in two balls, and the captain was full of admiration for him.
"I always have faith in him (Rishad) because he is a wicket-taking bowler. We all know that it's not easy to play a leg-spinner. There can be two or one boundary, but there is always a possibility of taking a wicket. So, I have tried to do that.
"And in his case, I haven't seen left-hand or right-hand matters a lot for him. So, as a captain, I wanted him to take out one or two wickets, which he did perfectly."
After they lost a series to the USA shortly before the T20 World Cup, Shanto stated that he is more concerned about his players than with the narrative that is being created on social media.
"No, those who talk on social media can say whether this has been stopped, but we cannot control social media. I don't think the players are following social media a lot and it's not in our control either.
"So, we are only thinking about the things we can control and how honest we are, whether we are taking our preparation well and we are trying 100% to make the team win the game.
"We think about these only and the 15-17 players who are here, everyone tries to give their 120%. They think about winning every day to make the team win."
(With PTI inputs)
English (US) ·