Bangladesh will investigate their World Cup failure after the team failed to qualify from the first round despite playing all of their matches in favourable home conditions, a minister said Monday.
Published: Mar 28, 2011, 06:11 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 28, 2011, 06:11 PM (IST)
Bangladeshi captain Shakib Al hasan throws a ball during a training session at the Sher-e Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka. Bangladesh will investigate their World Cup failure after the team failed to qualify from the first round despite playing all of their matches in favourable home conditions
Dhaka: Mar 28, 2011
Â
Bangladesh will investigate their World Cup failure after the team failed to qualify from the first round despite playing all of their matches in favourable home conditions, a minister said Monday.
Â
Sports minister Ahad Ali Sarker said the team made the nation “proud” by winning three of the six first round matches held in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka and southeastern city of Chittagong. But he added the co-hosts’ humiliating defeats against the West Indies and South Africa and a 87-run loss against India exposed the team’s batting weaknesses.
Â
“We shall form a team to investigate the failures of the players. And we’ll take necessary measures to overcome these weaknesses,” Sarker said. Led by Shakib Al Hasan, the young Bangladeshi team defeated England, Ireland and the Netherlands.
Â
However, they failed to reach the quarter-finals after suffering two crushing defeats against the West Indies and South Africa, with the former bowling them out for 58 — the lowest ever one-day score for Bangladesh. The two heavy losses prompted much soul-searching by the cricket-crazy nation.
Â
On Monday, the national selectors dropped four players for Bangladesh’s three-match home series against Australia next month. Among the four players dropped from the 15-man World Cup squad was former captain Mohammad Ashraful, who managed just 18 runs in three matches.
Â
Top order batsman Junaid Siddique, all-rounder Naeem Islam and medium pacer Nazmul Hossain were the other World Cup players omitted from the home series.
Â
© AFP
