On Tuesday, Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan said that his team never thought of clean sweeping the English side. In the recently concluded third T20I, Bangladesh defeated England by 16 runs to end the series 3-0.
Talking to media, Shakib mentioned about his team efforts in fielding said, “We didn’t dream of it, but we also didn’t put ourselves pressure before the series. We didn’t talk about winning game but just wanted to play good cricket. We tried to contribute with the bat in all three games. I think we fielded unbelievably well too, especially in T20s where two or four runs make a big difference.”
Shakib also lauded his bowlers for stepping up throughout the series. “Our bowling unit was quite good. We never had the luxury to play with six proper bowlers. We often played with eight batters, which also meant that we were a bowler short. In T20s, you need that (bowling) cushion. Bowlers win you T20 matches, so having that extra bowler always helps. We have a few more areas for tuning ahead of the next World Cup, but we have made a good start.”
“I have been leading the team since the Asia Cup last year. We didn’t win a match there, but I thought we played good cricket. We were unfortunate not to reach the semifinals of the T20 World Cup. We were one win away from that achievement. We had a lot of doubt before the tournament, but the belief that we can compete with bigger teams started from the World Cup,” he added.