Shanto lasted until the forty second over and missed out on his second ODI hundred in all probability as a result of he quickly ran out of specialist batters on the different finish.
Nonetheless, it was Shanto who was got down to defend Bangladesh’s abject batting exhibiting in Pallekele. It’s a venue the place groups win averaging 280-plus batting first in day-night ODIs. Shanto mentioned that they knew {that a} barely decrease complete would have been exhausting to chase in these circumstances, which is why they determined to bat first, however a scarcity of top-order partnerships value them the sport.
“Our preliminary plan was to look to attain round 250-260 runs,” Shanto mentioned. “Batting was fairly simple towards the brand new ball, but it surely acquired more durable because the ball acquired older. It wasn’t a simple wicket, however we must always have put collectively partnerships within the prime order. We should always have batted higher. We do not wish to make these errors within the subsequent recreation. We thought we must always bat first after wanting on the wicket. All of us agreed with the captain and coach’s choice. We did not bat properly. I would not name it a simple wicket, however we must always have batted higher.”
Bangladesh misplaced debutant Tanzid Hasan, Mohammad Naim and Shakib Al Hasan inside the first eleven overs. Shanto and Hridoy, and later Rahim, tried to revive the innings however the Sri Lankan bowling stored them at bay with common wickets. The tail caved in shortly and predictably.
Bangladesh succumbed to the unorthodox pairing of Maheesh Theekshana and Matheesha Pathirana, who shared figures of 6-51 in 15.4 overs. Shanto, nonetheless, mentioned that neither the kind of bowling nor the truth that Bangladesh’s prime 4 consisted of solely left-handers, for the primary time in 12 years in an ODI, damage them.
“We have been ready to face all sorts of bowling, so we’re all succesful to bat in any state of affairs and towards any bowling assault. I do not suppose (the highest 4 being left-handers) was a giant drawback.
“We do not have such bowlers in our nation. We ready with no matter assets we now have. He (Pathirana) is an effective bowler. However I’ll say that we now have finished properly towards good bowling assaults. It did not occur in the present day. It will likely be okay within the subsequent recreation,” he mentioned.
Shanto mentioned that their newest efficiency towards Afghanistan – beating them within the T20I sequence at house final month – might be on their thoughts as they face them in Lahore. However he wasn’t eager to speak about extra than simply the subsequent recreation, not least concerning the impending India-Pakistan match, nor their robust progress to the subsequent spherical.
“We did properly within the T20I sequence towards Afghanistan,” Shanto mentioned. “We did not do properly within the ODIs. We’re not too frightened concerning the previous. Now we have a superb crew. We consider that if we will play our cricket, we will get a superb end result towards Afghanistan.
“Now we have to win the subsequent recreation. I feel it’s attainable (to make to the subsequent spherical). However I’d reasonably plan and put together for the subsequent match reasonably than suppose too far forward. If we will beat Afghanistan, we’ll take into consideration the opposite stuff.”
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
