After Thursday’s do-or-die Asia Cup match in Group B clash, Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan has come down heavily on his bowlers for their poor discipline towards the game. According to Hasan, one of the reasons for their loss to Sri Lanka was their bowlers giving far too many runs in no-ball and wides.

The match that took place at the Dubai International Stadium saw Bangladesh losing to Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka succeeded in overhauling the target for the loss of eight wickets and four balls remaining. With their victory, Sri Lanka along with Afghanistan advanced to the Super Four round, while Bangladesh got eliminated. 

“No captain wants a no-ball and a spinner bowling a no-ball is a crime,” Shakib was quoted as saying by ICC after the match. “We bowled (a) lot of no-balls and wide balls and that is not disciplined bowling. These are pressure games and we need to learn a lot from here and move forward,” he added.

Sri Lanka’s victory came following the highest successful run chase in the UAE in T20Is. Smashing a 37-ball 60, Kusal Mendis became the player to score the highest number of runs, and was given multiple lifelines. He was dropped by wicket-keepers Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahedi Hasan respectively.

“The turning point could be when our batsmen got out (at crucial moments) and spinners bowling a no-ball is a crime. It proved how we can break (down) in a pressure situation. We need to improve on that skill-wise but we break whenever there is pressure and lose the game. We need to improve a lot in the death overs,” said Shakib.

With the ICC T20 World Cup approaching this October-November in Australia, the skipper hopes to return to their form with a pace-heavy attack.

“On this kind of a wicket, 12 overs need to be bowled by pace bowlers and in most cases, you would expect that. Who can deliver will stay and (those) who are unable won’t be there,” he said. “We have seen four bowlers in two matches and we hope that we would find four or five such pacers who can bowl 12 to 14 for us, because in Australia we need to depend on the pacers.”

(inputs from IANS)