Power hitting problem cost Tigers game against Afghanistan

Bangladesh once again failed to utilize the death overs due to a lack of a proper power-hitter, a thing that left them ruing at least 15/20 runs short against Afghanistan in their opening game of the Asia Cup on Tuesday.

That 15/20 runs eventually made the eventual difference as Bangladesh lost the match by seven wickets.

The talk of power hitter and power hitting problem has been in the center of all discussions in Bangladesh for some times now as they failed to thrive in T20 cricket repeatedly.

As they have been in quandary with power hitting, Bangladesh training module ahead of the Asia Cup included power hitting practices every day and to such extent the players practiced it that all of the became confident that they could execute it in the game. But that was not to be.

On a slow surface, Bangladesh were restricted to 127-7 and after seeing the pitch one could easily observe that a score close to 150 would have guaranteed a victory. Bangladesh indeed were on course of 150 but they simply couldn't do that. The Tigers scored 40 runs in the last five overs and if it was down to the last two overs, then they made just 16 which is not ideal in T20 cricket.

Afghanistan also had a slow start on slow surface and if the run rate was taken in consideration they even were behind Bangladesh in the first 10 overs. But what they did was that they kept the wickets at hands and didn't play any mindless shot like Bangladeshi batters. Thereafter they went on berserk to make the victory as effortless one.

Najibullah Zadran was the go-to player for Afghanistan, hammering 43 not out off just 17 that included one four and six towering sixes. At the other end, Ibrahim Zadran was not out on 42 off 41. Even though he played a slow knock, he ensured that one end would be intact to give others batter a liberty to play aggressive cricket.

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan pointed out this fact as the eventual difference.

"It is always tough when you lose four 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," Shakib said after the match.

"Mosaddek played well but we needed more contributions, We knew Najibullah is a dangerous batsman. We thought we had the game when they needed 60 odd in the last six overs. But credit to Najibullah the way he took the game away
from us."

Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi credited his spinners Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan to make their job easier. Both of the bowlers claimed three wickets apiece with Mujeeb being adjudged as the man of the match to scythe down Bangladesh's to order.

"Everyone knows both Mujeeb and Rashid are world class bowlers. They again showed their talent and ability. We plan to take early wickets to be ahead in the game. Everyone knows that we have power hitters in our team. We finished the game really well. Gurbaz tried a lot but couldn't hit them well. Shakib bowled brilliantly," Nabi said.

Reports: BSS