Bangladesh T20I skipper Shakib Al Hasan was left dejected following India‘s last-ball win over his side to clinch Nidahas Trophy 2018 on Sunday. Bangladesh were in the contest for most of the game, and Shakib credited his side’s character, especially in the bowling department. He hopes they would learn a lot from such a defeat. Shakib added that his side is moving in the right direction, and there aren’t many negatives despite the loss. He was in awe of Dinesh Karthik‘s hitting ability right from ball one and lauded his efforts too.
“You learn more things when you lose a game. We could have rectified so many small things which could have gone our away and we could have won easily. These things happen in cricket, which is why T20 is so exciting. India were almost out of the game (before Karthik started hitting). I think we did well for 38 overs except for the [Mehedi Hasan] Miraz over at the start and the second last over when Rubel went for 22 runs.
“Credit goes to Karthik for the way he batted. It is not an easy thing to do to hit a low full-toss like that. Five of the eight balls he faced went for boundaries. I think he hit three sixes. It was amazing hitting. We were so close, but India were on the winning side in the end. But you can’t take anything away from us, with the way we played in this tournament, and today. We showed some good character and played in the right spirit. I can’t ask for more from my team.”
Sharing his thought of giving Rubel Hossain the penultimate over, Shakib revealed: “When Mustafizur bowled that brilliant over, India needed 34 off the last two overs. Rubel was our best bowler today after the way he bowled the first three overs. I believed in him. I thought even if he bowled badly, he would go for 15 runs. I would have 20 runs to play with in the last two overs, which would have given Soumya some cushion. It was the plan behind bringing Rubel in the 19th over.
“He didn’t miss by much. I don’t know many batsmen who can hit a six off the first ball, and then keep hitting the boundaries. There are very few instances in history. There was something otherworldly about it. He got nervous after going for 10 runs off the first two balls. I still feel that I will back him the next time such a situation comes.”
Stressing on carrying the positives, and move on in the right manner, Shakib told: “What’s the point of crying now? You can be emotional. There’s nothing much we can do in this situation. I hope we learn from these narrow defeats, and this has been our narrowest loss in a final. I think we are progressing.
“It was a tough period for us when we lost 3 quick wickets. If we played better, we may have scored more runs. I think overall we were 10-15 runs short but if someone asked me at the start of the game what was my ideal score in a final, I would have said 170. So I think we made 4-5 runs short. We came back very well with the ball, which shows our character with the ball. I don’t see a lot of negatives, except that we lost the game.”
Bangladesh posted 166 for 8. In reply, India edged past courtesy a last-ball-six from Karthik to ensure a 4-wicket win.
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