Bangladesh were knocked out of the Asia Cup on Thursday (September 25) after they failed to chase down 136 runs against Pakistan. They had a great chance to make it to the final of the tournament, but Bangladesh panicked in the chase and lost wickets at regular intervals to eventually fall 11 short. Bangladesh head coach Phil Simmons rued a missed chance and admitted that their batters played some poor shots in the run chase.
Moreover, they had Pakistan reeling at 49/5 after opting to bowl first, but dropped Shaheen Afridi twice and Mohammad Nawaz once. The two batters ended up scoring 19 and 25 runs, and that allowed Pakistan to reach 135 runs in their 20 overs. Simmons also rued dropped catches in the field and reckoned they simply had a bad day on the field which cost them the game.
"When we dropped Shaheen and Nawaz, that's where the game changed. Before that, we were in control. Some of the catches maybe [had something to do with the lights] but I don't think the ones we dropped had anything to do with the lights," Simmons said in the press conference after the match.
We didn't makes best shot selections, says Simmons
Phil Simmons also pointed out that the Bangladesh batters didn't make good decisions in the run chase. They had chased down 169 runs against Sri Lanka in their first Super Four clash on the same pitch but panicked in the must-win game against Pakistan. "We didn't have to chase it in any [particular number of] overs. We just had to win the game. It was just bad decisions. All of the teams have that at some point. It was us today. We didn't make the best shot selections.
"We just chased 160 [169 vs Sri Lanka] two games ago. We are not a team that can lose Tanzid [Hasan] and captain [Litton] in one game and just fill [the void] like that. We are getting to that stage, we are not there yet. Losing the captain in such good form is a big thing for us.
"We chased 160 [169] on the same wicket, where we made better batting decisions. Batting order doesn't say we batted well or badly. We made bad decisions today," Simmons added.
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