Bangladesh players were not panic-stricken in the dressing room despite getting hefty target to chase, revealed Shakib Al Hasan, the man who led the chase in astute fashion, reports BSS.
Bangladesh indeed were left to highest successful chase in their history and also the second highest chase in World Cup history after the Caribbean side put up 321-8. But players remained upbeat about their chance to gun it down, said Shakib Al Hasan.
With Shakib in the forefront, Bangladesh managed to chase it down with quite ease as they reached the winnings target of 322, with 51 balls to spare. Shakib Al Hasan struck a truly magnificent 124 not out and Liton Das hammered 94 not out.
”It always feels good to contribute to the team and I really enjoyed the way we have played today,” Shakib said.
”It was a professional performance and when they scored 321 runs, no one in the dressing room panicked for a bit,” he informed.
”It was a very good sign as it shows that we had the belief that we can chase this target,” he said.
Shakib said that he is happy that his hard work is paying off in the ongoing World Cup but added he is not yet satisfied as they are at the mid-stage of the tournament.
When asked why he was so adamant to prove himself in the biggest cricket extravaganza, Shakib replied diplomatically.
”I wanted to do a little bit better. I wanted to improve myself in my point of view. Alhamdulillah it has been working so far but we are just in the middle stage of the tournament, I will try to finish the tournament in the same way,” said Shakib.
”It feels good when I contribute like this, especially when I contribute in my team’s win it feels even better. I will try to contribute like this for the team when I will contribute like this those things [ most runs & wickets ] will go there automatically. So I am not thinking about those things right now, my responsibility is to contribute to the team as much as I can,” he added.
Shakib added that though they are still alive in the tournament it will be difficult for them to progress beyond the group stage unless they keep on performing in the same manner. ”It’s very difficult still now[ to reach the semifinal],” said Shakib.
”We have to win at least three more matches. of course, we will try our best, this win will give us lots of confidence but having said that the remaining four teams are very good and capable of doing great on their day,” he said.
”We will have to play our best cricket if we want to do well against them. When we will contribute as a team only then we will have the opportunity to do something good. This is a thing that we have been trying to do in every game,” he said.
”It happens in some matches, some matches it doesn’t. in bowling, everyone contributed today and it helped us a lot as the wicket was good and everybody had the confidence that we will win this match, that really helped us,” he added.
