By Sirshendu Panth, IANS,
Dhaka: A crestfallen Bangladesh skipper Shakib-al-Hasan said “sorry” to the fans after his side went out of the World Cup following a heartbreaking 206-run loss to South Africa in their last Group B game here Saturday.
“Sorry,” Shakib told the fans during the prize distribution ceremony at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium soon after his side folded up for a pathetic 78, in reply to South Africa’s 284/8.
Later, at the customary media meet Shakib again apologised to the nation’s millions of cricket lovers, who had been partying through the night on the roads for the past one month to boost the morale of the team.
“We have not played good cricket in the tournament. I feel very sorry for our fans. They deserved much more than what we have given them,” he said.
He said the people had high expectations from his boys who had played well over the past one year. “But we let them down.”
The Bangladesh captain said his side missed a big opportunity by playing poor cricket.
“We missed a big opportunity in this World Cup. We haven’t played good cricket in this tournament and haven’t finished it the way we wanted to.”
Shakib said the team would now look back to see what went wrong.
He said the team got good support, and the wicket was not bad.
“They (South Africa) batted brilliantly.”
The Bangladesh skipper felt his team could not take the pressure of expectations.
“Today it was a high pressure match for us. We had to win and we knew that. But in the end, the team just could not take the pressure,” he said.
Shakib conceded that his side did not bat well in the tournament, and should have given 20 runs less Saturday.
“There can be no other reason for our failure than bad batting. We did not bat well throughout the tournament. Then when we batted, we lost four wickets quickly. We should have conceded 20 runs less,” he said.
Bangladesh are on six points from the same number of matches. Though arithmetically speaking, the team still has a chance to win, Shakib said the team had no chance to qualify as their run rate was very low.
“The way we have batted, I think we do not deserve to be in the quarter-finals,” said a Shakib.
Shakib showered praise on South Africa and predicted the Graeme Smith-led side would go to the final.
“They have very good pacers and spinners. Their batting also runs deep,” he added.