Asia Cup 2022 | Need to work in a lot of areas before the World Cup, admits Shakib Al Hasan

Shakib Al Hasan cut a sad figure after his team were knocked out of the 15th edition of the Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates following a two-wicket defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka. The loss at Sharjah came after Afghanistan had triumphed over them as well in their campaign opener, thus sending the Tigers home with nothing to show for their efforts. Coming into the tournament on the back of a series loss in Zimbabwe, Bangladesh find themselves in a really difficult spot just a few weeks away from the World T20 in Australia.

The skipper was humble enough to confess the side was not up to the required standard but did point out the close margins with which they lost their games.

“If you look at the last six months, we were not competitive but we were very competitive this time. We need to work in a lot of areas before the World Cup in Australia,” he was quoted saying by India Today after the match.

Bangladesh put in a solid batting effort despite losing the toss, with Mosaddek Hossain's 9-ball cameo of 24 runs taking them to a huge total of 183. Sri Lanka had their work cut out, considering they needed to achieve the highest run chase ever in T20Is in the UAE in order to ensure their progression to the Super Fours. With eight overs to play, they were firmly on the backfoot requiring 89 runs with six wickets in hand.

However, a careless over by Ebadot Hossain leaked 22 runs and before long the Lions were in the driving seat. Bangladesh's premier bowlers Ebadot, Mustafizur Rahman, and Shakib had all completed their bowling quotas and were bludgeoned for runs. Eventually, two boundaries by Asitha Fernando against spinner Mahedi Hasan in the last over handed them the win with four balls to spare. 

“Death bowling is something we are looking to improve and that has cost us the game, The last two overs they were eight down and needed to get 17-18 runs and they got with a lot of balls to spare. We are not bowling well in the death,” the captain conceded.

“We should give lot of credit to SL, the way they held their nerves. We wanted to pick wickets, and saw the fast bowlers were picking wickets. There was pressure on SL. Whenever the bowlers bowl, they needed to execute their plans."