Bangladesh captain Najmul Shanto is disappointed over his team after the seven-wicket defeat to India in the first T20I. Bangladesh could manage to score just 127 runs against which India easily chased the same within just 11.5 overs.
Najmul Shanto Furious After Poor Batting
Speaking on this defeat, he remarked that his players didn’t know how to score 180 runs. In the post-match press conference, he targeted the batting lineup by saying Bangladesh was very well capable of producing much better performances than what they did in Gwalior. Shanto himself scored 27 runs before being taken out by Washington Sundar in the 12th over. On October 6, most of the Bangladeshi batters seemed to be just overawed by the Indian bowling attack, which included two debutants in the XI.
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“I wouldn’t say we played badly. We are a better team than this. We haven’t done well in this format for a long time, but I don’t believe we are such a bad team,” said Najmul Shanto.
“I don’t want to talk about any individual player. I think the batting unit didn’t do well today. There will be aggression in the way we approach our scoring, but sometimes we have to select the balls correctly. We will think about it, but we can’t rush in changing our approach,” Shanto said.
Shanto Highlights The Need To Work On Skills & Mentality
The Bangladesh captain attributed his team’s struggles to familiar conditions at home, noting that they are accustomed to playing in 140-150 run environments and lack the ability to score 180 runs in favorable batting conditions.
In the last two years, Bangladesh has only surpassed the 180-run mark four times in 45 matches, achieving this feat twice against Ireland and twice against Sri Lanka. Notably, three of those four high scores were recorded on home turf.
However, out of those four matches, they lost both encounters against Sri Lanka, once in 2022 and again in 2024.
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“We have the ability, but we have room for improvement in our skills. We have been batting in this way for the last ten years. Sometimes we do well. We have to make some changes, perhaps where we practice back home. We play on 140-150 wickets at home. Our batters don’t know how to score 180 runs. I won’t blame just the wickets, but we have to consider skills and mentality,” Najmul Shanto was critical of the team after they faced defeat in the first T20I.
