Bowlers cost us the game: Shakib

DHAKA - Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan defended his decision to field first and said bowling cost them the opening World Cup match against India here Saturday.

Replying to India’s 370 for 4, Bangladesh could muster only 283 for 9, much to the disappointment of a capacity crowd of around 25,000 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here.

The emphatic victory enabled India avenge their shock defeat against the South Asian neighbour in the previous edition and gave a rousing start to their World Cup campaign.

“I thought we could have bowled better. We bowled too many boundary balls, and that cost us the game. We have to bowl more in good areas. In Powerplays, we can bowl better than this. On the other hand, Virender Sehwag played a really good innings,and he took the game away from us,” Shakib said in the post match conference.

The Bangladesh captain said they fancied their chances while chasing.

“I thought we had better chance of winning the game chasing. If we had got two early wickets, then it would have been a different game. That was our plan. Our fast bowlers did not execute the plan, that was the main problem.”

Shakib said it was their best combination for the match. “Thats why we picked this team.”

“The plan was to bat properly, and play cricketing shots. We knew the wicket was good, and if either Tamim or Junaid kept going, we could have got a very good total. That was our plan, and I thought we executed our plan very well in batting. We didnt try to hit too many slogs, we played all cricketing shots, and got close to 300. I thought we batted really well and sensibly.”

“Obviously there are so many things we can improve on. If you think about our batting and fielding, we executed our plans. Our fast bowlers and spinners need to bowl in the right areas more often.”

Asked whether the team missed fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza, Shakib said: “He is not in the squad, so we couldnt think of him. If he could have been in the team, it would have been a different ball game. I thought our fast bowlers have been bowling really well for the last 12 months. Today wasnt their day, but hopefully they will come back strongly.”