I should make it big, there are no excuses: Tamim Iqbal

On June 24, the second and final fixture of the bilateral Test series between Bangladesh and West Indies got underway at Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, St Lucia. 


The home team invited Shakib Al-Hasan side to bat first. Although the visitors got off to a stable start, the wickets of middle-order batters fell like a pack of cards, which paved the way for them to be dismissed for 234. Liton Das emerged as the top-scorer with 53 off 70, and Tamim Iqbal scored 46 off 67. 


In reply, West Indies finished Day 1 on a high with 67/0, and the openers Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell at the crease with unbeaten knocks of 32 and 30, respectively. 


After the end of Day's play, Tamim admitted that if Bangladesh could have batted better, the team's scoreline would have read 300, and they would be in a better position. He added that the bowlers also gave away a few extra runs with the ball in the last session. 


"I think the wicket was up and down, but we should've batted better. If we had scored 300 to 320, it would have been a better score cause wicket was a little up and down. Even in bowling, if we had given away 25 to 30 runs less, then it would have been better. Since the way they normally bat, they don't score as quickly apart from Campbell,"


The 33-year-old added that he usually converts his starts into a big score but failed to do in this fixture due to misjudgement of the length. However, as a senior member of the visiting team, he thinks he should make it big, and there should be no room for excuses.


"Normally, when you get a start such as this, my innings usually get bigger. It's unfortunate. I thought I could've left that delivery alone, but the ball rose more than it was supposed to, which is why it hit the sticker of my bat,”


"I am not someone who will come here with excuses. I think when I am getting starts as a senior member of the team, I should make it big. There are no excuses," he said.


In the end, Tamim reckoned that the Bangladesh team is not clicking well as a batting unit, and openers and the middle-order have failed to contribute in a tandem.


"We had a platform ready and, in that situation, if we could have gotten 50 or 60 runs in that partnership, then we could have been in a very good situation, and maybe we could have batted the whole day today,"


So basically, we're not doing it at the top end, or it's not happening in the middle. So as a team, as a batting unit, maybe we're not doing well," he concluded.


It will be interesting to see if the Tigers can fight back in this game and avoid a series whitewash.