Bangladesh coach Phil Simmons believes “bad decisions” and dropped catches ruined the team’s chance of making it to the Asia Cup final. Bangladesh, who lost the de facto semi-final against Pakistan by eleven runs, bottled a concrete chance they had transpired early in the game. They had Pakistan pinned at 51 for 5, but a string of dropped catches helped Pakistan’s lower order finish with a respectable 136, thanks to cameos from Mohammad Nawaz and Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Shaheen was dropped twice by Nurul Hasan and Mahedi Hasan in the 12th over and survived a faint runout chance in the next. Similarly, Mohammad Nawaz, who went on to score a brisk 25 off 15 balls, was dropped by Parvez Hossain Emon on zero. Simmons did not hide behind Dubai’s “ring of fire” floodlights, which often dazzle the fielders and cause them to leak catches.
“When we dropped Shaheen and Nawaz, that’s where the game changed,” he said. “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.”
Even with all the dropped catches, 136 wasn’t a total Pakistan could defend easily. However, Bangladesh batters made poor shot selections throughout the chase, failing to read the ball and trying to dispatch every other delivery in the air. Simmons pointed that this lack of judgment cost the team their survival in the tournament.
“We didn’t have to chase it in any [particular number of] overs. We just had to win the game,” Simmons said. “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.”
Bangladesh, despite losing, managed to hit more sixes than Pakistan. But those sixes haven’t come regularly for them in this format. Simmons understands that they have strike-rate issues, which have dragged them back in T20Is; however, with the team shifting closer to the modern template of cricket, he hopes this gap will close.
“The [strike-rate] gap will reduce the more we play at the international level, the guys will know what to do at this level,” he said. “I agree that our strike-rate isn’t up there, but we are up there in six-hitting. I don’t think it is about our ability to score quickly. We have to bat for longer and put on partnerships.”
Bangladesh have never won the Asia Cup, but with a team carrying many bright spots, at least brighter than the previous generation of cricketers in this format, they had hoped for more this time. With the defeat to Pakistan, their campaign ended in disappointment. Still, Simmons said they gleaned positives from the tournament.
“[Saif Hassan] is definitely the biggest positive from this [campaign],” he said. “The other one is how our bowlers did in the whole tournament. They were spot-on, every game.”
