Bangladesh batsman Najmul Hossain stated on August 31 that they anticipated sporting wickets in tournaments such as the Asia Cup and that they should have batted better against Sri Lanka in their tournament opener at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.
Sri Lanka defeated Bangladesh by five wickets in their inaugural Group B match of the Asia Cup 2023, which Bangladesh lost due to a disastrous batting performance. Bangladesh scored a mediocre 164 runs in 42.4 overs after electing to bat, with Najmul recording the highest score of 89. Sri Lanka surpassed the target with relative ease, achieving 165/5 with 66 deliveries remaining.
Najmul was critical of the batting unit’s performance, but he also pointed out that the wicket was difficult to bat on. Actually, the wicket is always excellent here, but that was not the case today. However, these factors are out of our control, so we must play well. We expected a sporting pitch in a tournament of this magnitude,” Nazmul told reporters.
“I think we looked to score around 250 to 260. With the new ball the batting was quite easy but after the ball (got old) it was quite hard. It was not that easy a wicket. We tried to score at least 250, that was the initial plan.
“After seeing the wicket we felt we should bat and the decision taken by the captain and coach, we all agreed to that. We did not bat well and I won’t say that the wicket was easy but what I feel is that we could have batted better,” he said. adding that he doesn’t regret for missing out the hundred but would have felt better if he could bat till the last.
“We won against them in the last T20 series though we didn’t do well in the ODIs and we are not thinking about the past. We believe if we can play to our potential, we will have a good game against Afghanistan. I think we don’t need to think very far rather we should focus on how to do well against Afghanistan.”
On September 3, Bangladesh will face Afghanistan in a must-win game in Lahore.
