Fear is the reason behind batting failure, reckons Shakib 

Bangladesh are close to suffering their most inauspicious Test defeat to the newest Test nation Afghanistan in Chattogram.

The Tigers still need to score 262 runs to seal this game or bat for a whole day to end up with a draw with only four wickets in hand. They have a very little chance to get something notable from this match. 

Bangladesh Test captain, Shakib Al Hasan, believes the fear of failure was the main reason behind Bangladesh’s fragile batting display against the four-pronged spin attack of Afghanistan. 

“We made the mistake while playing with fear in our mind. If you play with fear you cannot execute your plan properly, and this is what happened here. Usually, we don’t play any wrist-spinner whether a right-armer or left-armer. So there was a problem to adjust playing this sort of bowlers,” Shakib told the media at the end of day four of Chattogram Test. 

Bangladesh lost control of the game when they tumbled only for 205 runs in their first innings, which helped Afghanistan to secure a 137-run lead. Rashid Khan-led Afghanistan stretched their lead to a massive 397 runs. 

“When Liton (Das) plays a T20 game, he does every shot correctly but when it comes to a Test match he cannot do this. I think we take too much pressure and we play with fear in our mind,” Shakib added. 

Bangladesh captain backed the decision of sending Mosaddek Hossain at number three saying that the right-handed batsman was comfortable against the varied spin-attack of Afghans in the first innings. 

“To chase down a total like 400, we would have required some players who are accustomed to playing big innings. We know Mosaddek had hit three-four double centuries in the Frist-class cricket. So he has the ability. But he failed to replicate that performance in international cricket as well. It is his failure,” Shakib told when he was asked about the plan of sending Mosaddek at number three instead of Mominul Haque. 

Before an inevitable, most-likey, Test defeat to a new Test-playing, Shakib glowing enough to praise the opponent. He said: “It is disappointing that we might go to lose the game. But I want to say they deserve our respect. They came a long way of playing good cricket for their country.”

Afsar Zazai, the wicketkeeper-batsman of Afghanistan, believes if they can win this game it will be their statement to the world that they are prepared enough to compete in red-ball cricket. 

“To be honest, it (the probable win against Bangladesh) mean a lot for us. People know about us good enough in white-ball cricket. But they don’t know about our ability in Test cricket. We beat Ireland last year. Now we discussed that this match is very important for us. If we can emerge, winner, it will be an announcement that we can play Test cricket as well,” Afsar told the media at the of day four.