Bangladesh's Shakib, Tamim Lament Lack of Intent in India Loss

Bangladesh's disappointing performance in the T20 World Cup 2024 Super Eight game against India has drawn criticism from two of the team's most prominent players, Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal. Shakib expressed frustration over the team's lack of intent and fighting spirit, while Tamim questioned some of the tactical decisions made by the management.

Shakib, who scored only 11 runs off seven balls, lamented the team's inability to chase down India's total of 196. He pointed out that Bangladesh's top order has consistently underperformed throughout the tournament, failing to capitalize on the favorable batting conditions in Antigua.

"We couldn't even show our intent of wanting to chase India's runs," Shakib said. "We are short of runs as a batting unit. We made 140 in the last game, 146 today. We should have done better today since we had a target in front of us."

Tamim, who was commentating on the match for ESPNcricinfo, echoed Shakib's concerns. He expressed surprise at Bangladesh's lack of intent with the bat and questioned the decision to leave out Taskin Ahmed in favor of an extra batter.

"Bangladesh's batting has disappointed in this whole tournament," Tamim said. "The think-tank really needs to think about how they will go from here on."

Tamim also criticized the decision to not give the new ball to Mustafizur Rahman, who has a reputation for troubling Rohit Sharma with his left-arm pace. He suggested that Bangladesh missed an opportunity to exploit Sharma's weakness.

Shakib and Tamim both acknowledged that Bangladesh's batting struggles are not new. They pointed out that the team tends to perform better on tricky wickets than on good batting surfaces.

"We don't really do well when we play on flat wickets that produce 180-200 runs," Shakib said. "We play better on wickets that produce 130-150 runs."

Tamim added that Bangladesh's batters are not accustomed to playing on good batting wickets, which has hindered their development. He suggested that the team needs to prioritize playing on better surfaces to improve their batting skills.

"Bangladesh [usually] play in difficult wicket for batters," Tamim said. "They also can't start scoring runs freely when you put them in a very good wicket."

Tags: #T20WorldCup2024, #BangladeshCricket, #ShakibAlHasan, #TamimIqbal, #BattingStruggles