Afghanistan are a big T20 team, believes Shakib
Bangladesh captain also said that the batsmen were suffering from lack of confidence.
Bangladesh failed to come out from their deep T20Is misery against Afghanistan as they lost another game on Sunday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in the Tri-series. Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan believes Afghanistan are a big T20 force now.
"Definitely Afghanistan are a big T20 team now. They are at number seven in the ICC Ranking while we are at number 10. They played well in Dehradun and now again they proved that," Bangladesh captain said at the post-match press conference on Sunday.
Afghanistan won the toss and opted to bat first in this game and posted 164 runs for six in spite of losing four wickets inside the powerplay. Mohammad Nabi, the former captain of the Afghans, led the batting line scoring 85 off 54 with three fours and seven sixes.
In reply, Bangladesh lost some early wickets but never really recovered. Mahmudullah Riyad and Sabbir Rahman added 58 runs in the fifth wicket stand but that was not enough as they were departed in quick succession to leave the Tigers stutter.
"At the same time, we have to say we handed the game to them. We had a chance to take the commanding position back but we failed to do so," Shakib added.
Bangladesh captain also said that the batsmen were suffering from lack of confidence, and this is the reason behind sending Mushfiqur Rahim opens the innings for the first time in his T20Is career.
"It was decided to send Mushfiqur opens the innings after a team discussion. As we are not doing well at the top of the order, we wanted to pass that phase of the game by playing our experienced batsmen," Shakib further said.
