Bangladesh lost their hard-fought encounter against India by 5 runs, and Shakib is of the view that not playing enough close games was the reason they couldn’t capitalise and lost from a winning position. 

Just like it happened during a 2016 World Cup match in Bengaluru, where they lost from a winning position, Bangladesh bungled here after a rain break and went down by five runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method.

“We don’t play enough close games, and hence, we don’t know how to win those games. Both 185 and the revised target of 151 were acceptable targets. Unfortunately, we didn’t win,” Shakib said after the heartbreaking defeat.”

The straight-talking Bangladesh captain said “a combination of emotion and lack of experience” tilted the match in India’s favour after the rain interruption, when they were cruising at 66 for no loss in seven overs due to Litton Das’ blitzkrieg.

“It was a combination of emotion and lack of experience. I think 85 off nine overs, you will take that. Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) had finished his spell. We don’t play too many close games, so we don’t know how to do it.”

The skipper was graceful in defeat when asked if he could have convinced the umpires to start the game at least 15 minutes late, which would have led to the outfield drying a bit more than what it was when it restarted.

“Did I have an option? Do I have the ability to convince umpires? If we talk about the rain break, yes it was crucial as we lost the momentum, but when the ball is wet, scoring runs is easier.

“It was a little slippery, and normally, it suits batting rather than bowling. But both teams played in the right spirit.”

Shakib didn’t want to pick one particular moment as the game-changer.

“In a close match, you can pick a lot of moments (as turning points). Litton’s run-out was crucial. We lost momentum after the rain. But you can’t control rain. We were close, but not close enough.”

Did he feel Litton slipped before the run-out and fumbled while going for the second run led to his dismissal in the next delivery? Shakib didn’t want to make excuses.

“If Litton slipped on grass once while running, then next time, he should have shown awareness and run on the pitch.”

The two overs, when Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya got two wickets apiece, proved very costly, even though Nurul Hasan Sohan and Taskin Ahmed got them close with some lusty blows.

“Most teams should get 52 off five overs with eight wickets in hand. We panicked a bit in the middle overs. We lost momentum in two to three overs big time. If you see in the last two overs, a lot of teams score 30. Unfortunately, we couldn’t score,” Shakib lamented.

Losing close games to India does hurt the skipper, but he has faith in the current batch’s capability to change the results in the coming times.

“Our World Cup games against India are close and exciting ones, but we have not been crossing the line. Hope we can change the result as these boys have the capability.”

Bangladesh will next face Pakistan on November 6, Sunday. 

(Inputs PTI)

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