Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto admitted his batters don’t know how to score 180 runs in the T20 format. The Tigers were skittled out at 127 after they were put into bat by Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav at the New Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium, Gwalior on Sunday.
India registered a thumping win of seven wickets with 49 balls to spare to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The home team was able to put themselves in front with Litton Das being dismissed by Arshdeep Singh in the very first over.
The visitors kept losing wickets at regular intervals and failed to find any kind of impetus in their batting innings. Shanto scored 27 runs whereas Mehidy Hasan Miraz scored an unbeaten 35 but none of the other batters could show much fight. Bangladesh could only manage 39 runs in the Powerplay overs and also lost both of their openers cheaply.
Arshdeep Singh was the pick of the Indian bowlers, returning with 3-14 whereas Varun Chakravarthy also bagged three scalps in his four-over quota on his return to the team after three years.
“Powerplay is definitely a worry. The approach we talked about (before the game), it will be successful if we make a good start with the bat,” Najmul told reporters after the opening game at the Madhav Rao Scindia Cricket Stadium. “We have to keep the wickets in the first six overs, and score runs in those. Otherwise those coming in next, it becomes too challenging for them. We have struggled in the powerplay. Those batting in the power play must take more responsibility.”
Shanto added they are a better team than what they showed on Sunday and he is hopeful of bouncing back strongly.
“I wouldn’t say we played badly. We are a better team than this. We haven’t done well in this format for a long time, but I don’t believe we are such a bad team,” said Najmul. “I don’t want to talk about any individual player. I think the batting unit didn’t do well today. There will be aggression in the way we approach our scoring, but sometimes we have to select the balls correctly. We will think about it, but we can’t rush in changing our approach.
“We have the ability, but we have room for improvement in our skills. We have been batting in this way for the last ten years. Sometimes we do well. We have to make some changes, perhaps where we practice back home. We play on 140-150 wickets at home. Our batters don’t know how to score 180 runs. I won’t blame just the wickets, but we have to consider skills and mentality,” he said.
The second match of the series will be played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Wednesday.
