Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain apologises to supporters

The story of Bangladesh in the ICC T20 World Cup was more or less the same from the first match against Sri Lanka at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas to the last match against Afghanistan at the Arnos Vale Stadium in Saint Vincent today, Tuesday.

Although the bowlers did quite well in almost every match, the batters failed to capitalise on that.

The utterly shambolic performances from the batters, with almost a certain collapse in the top order in every game, raised questions as to whether the Bangladesh team have the standards to represent cricket at the grandest level.

The bowlers bowled splendidly after losing the toss and restricted the Afghanistan side within a reachable 115 for five after 20 overs. Bangladesh had to win the match within 12.1 overs to secure a semi-final spot based on the net run rate.

However, Bangladesh were nowhere near that. They couldn’t even win the match chasing such a moderate target and ultimately lost the game by 8 runs instead.

Speaking to the newspersons after the match, the Bangladesh skipper said, “I would say that we have disappointed everybody throughout the entire tournament. We have disappointed our followers and supporters. My apology to our supporters on behalf of the team.”

He also admitted that the chaotic batting performances right from the first match was the main reason for Bangladesh’s failure in the cricket's showpiece event.

“We could not do that much as a batting unit. We are sorry for that. We will try to move on from here taking the positive sides only. For instance, our bowler did very well and created chance for us to win in almost every match. In particular, Rishad, who played his maiden world cup and bowled extremely well in almost every match,”

“But we have broken and hurt the people as a batting unit. We disappointed the entire nation. But there was no lack of intention and effort from us. Everyone tried, but failed. For that, I am sorry on behalf of the entire team.”