Najmul Hossain Shanto expressed his happiness as Bangladesh advanced to the Super 8 stage of the T20 World Cup 2024. But, the captain acknowledged that the team’s batting performance hasn’t been good enough. On Monday, Bangladesh won against Nepal by 21 runs at the Arnos Vale Ground in Kingstown, St Vincent, by successfully defending the lowest total (106) ever in the tournament’s history.
They managed to dismiss Nepal for just 85 runs in 19.3 overs. However, their batting still had issues, with Shanto, Litton Das, and Tanzid Hasan Tamim having difficulties in the top part of the batting order. Shanto mentioned that the team is sure they can protect low scores, but he encouraged the batters to improve as they face challenging games in the Super 8 stage.
“I’m really pleased with how we played in this round. I hope we keep up our good bowling, but improve our batting. I think our batting will get better in the next round. We’re not scoring a lot, but we believe we can protect our score if we take early wickets. That’s what we’ve told the bowlers, and they’re also doing well in the field,” Shanto said after the game.
Tanzim Hasan Sakib performed exceptionally well as a bowler for Bangladesh in their match against Nepal. He took four wickets in just four overs, giving away only seven runs, and kept the ball from being scored off in 21 deliveries. Mustafizur Rahman also contributed by taking a wicket and not allowing any runs in the second-to-last over, which made it difficult for Nepal to chase the target.
Shanto, the skipper commented, “We have a strong team. All our fast bowlers have been training very hard for the past two or three years. In this type of game, having a good bowling team is crucial, and I hope they keep up their good performance.”
Bangladesh ended the Group stage in second place because they won two games in a row against the Dutch and Nepal. “Momentum is really important in T20Is. We need to prepare for the next round and carry out our strategies,” Shanto said.
Bangladesh’s first Super 8 game will be against Australia, led by Mitchell Marsh, on Thursday, June 20 at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua.
