Asia Cup 2022: Shakib Al Hasan speaks on Bangladesh's defeat

Bangladesh faced defeat in their first game of the Asia Cup 2022

Bangladesh's T20I skipper Shakib Al Hasan reckons that losing wickets in regular intervals hurt his side as they lost their opening game of the Asia Cup 2022 to Afghanistan.

Bangladesh were unable to defend a below-par total as Afghanistan powered its way into the Super 4 of the Asia Cup with a seven-wicket victory at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

Earlier, the Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan opted to bat first after winning the toss. The decision proved to be a wrong one as traditionally teams have done well while chasing in UAE. 

 The Bangla Tigers suffered a top-order collapse after winning the toss and could only amass a low total of 127 for seven. Despite getting the in-form Afghan openers cheaply and keeping the scoring rate in check for a major part of the game, Bangladesh lost the game, thanks to Najibullah Zadran's brilliant whirlwind cameo of 17-ball 43-run.

Speaking about the game, skipper Shakib highlighted the reasons behind Bangladesh's disappointing defeat against Afghanistan. 

Shakib stated that losing early wickets in the first innings made it tough for Bangladesh to come back into the game.

"It is always tough when you lose 4 wickets in the first 7-8 overs. We were in the game for the first 14-15 overs. Credit to Afghanistan. In a T20 game, whoever is standing up for the team should it take it till the end. Mosaddek played well but we needed more efforts," 

Shakib Al Hasan in the post-match presentation.

"We knew Najibullah (Zadran) is a dangerous batsman. We thought we had the game when they needed 60 odd in the last 6 overs. But credit to Najibullah." 

Bangladesh's ace all-rounder also acknowledged Najibullah Zadran's heroics with the bat that turned the game in Afghanistan's favour.

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