Shakib Al Hasan, the captain of Bangladesh, was devastated to learn that his team had been eliminated from the Asia Cup 2022 after a close match against Sri Lanka on September 1 in Dubai.
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In order to lose the continental championship, the Bangla Tigers were unable to defend 183 runs, giving up 25 runs in the final two overs. Dasun Shanaka (45 off 33), Chamika Karunaratne (16 off 10) and Asitha Fernando (10* off three) all made significant contributions that helped Sri Lanka bring down the score with two wickets and four balls remaining.
Shakib emphasized that Bangladesh must train incredibly hard in preparation for the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year after reflecting on the loss. The captain said during the post-game presentation ceremony:
“If you look at our last six months, we aren’t being competitive. The World Cup will present a different challenge. If we want to perform well, we need to work on a lot of things.”
Shakib also brought up issues with the way Bangladesh bowled in the final few overs. In this regard, he said:
“We want to get better at death bowling since we neglected it and it cost us the game. They were eight down and required 18 runs in the final two overs; they achieved this goal with five balls remaining, demonstrating that we perform better in the middle overs than we do at the end.”
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What went wrong for Bangladesh was explained by Shakib Al Hasan as, “We needed to carry out our strategies.”
Shakib gave the Sri Lankan batsmen credit for doing well under pressure and advancing their side to the Super 4 round. The seasoned all-rounder pointed out that Bangladesh should have stood by their total.
“Kusal produced a fantastic inning for Sri Lanka, and Shanaka provided strong support. Fast bowlers were succeeding in applying pressure while we attempted to take wickets, but in the end, we needed to carry out our strategy and ought to have defended 180.”
Sri Lanka then followed Afghanistan from Group B to the Super 4 stage after the victory. India, on the other hand, has already advanced from Group A to the next round. The victor of Pakistan and Hong Kong’s last group matchup will join the Men in Blue in the Super 4 stage.
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