After suffering a defeat against Sri Lanka in a thrilling match and being knocked out of the ongoing Asia Cup, Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan said spinner bowling no-balls is a crime and added that they have to improve their death over bowling.
A late blitz from Asitha Fernando and Dasun Shanaka helped Sri Lanka secure a place in the Super Four phase of the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 after they defeated Bangladesh by two wickets in a Group B tie on Thursday. With the win over Bangladesh, Sri Lanka clinched a place in the Super Four. “In the back-end of the innings, we did not bowl well, but we batted really well. We started well as we kept on taking wickets. We scored 10-15 runs more than what we expected. We need to take that on our chin and move forward taking the positives keeping the World Cup in mind,” Shakib Al Hasan said in a post-match press conference.
In the last do-or-die over of the match, right-arm off-break bowler Mahedi Hasan delivered a no-ball when Sri Lanka needed three runs in four balls. Sri Lanka’s Asitha Fernando took the golden opportunity and smashed the ball straight on the leg-side. Long-on was too wide and the batters completed two runs and guided their team home with the two-wicket victory.
Talking about Mahedi Hasan and the match, Shakib said, “He (Mehidy Hasan) has done well in domestic cricket. He did well under pressure. No one likes their team bowling no balls. Spinners bowling no balls is a crime. We bowled a lot of no balls and wides. I think we were under pressure. We need to work on it for the world cup. We are looking to improve gradually.”
In a game that swung back and forth, Sri Lanka held their nerve under pressure to sneak in a two-wicket win and qualify for the Super Four stage of Asia Cup 2022.
Praising the Sri Lanka batter Kusal Mendis, who smashed a solid 60 runs in 37 balls, the Bangladesh skipper said that Mendis can play spin bowling easily and added that they need to improve thier last five over bowling.
“Kusal Mendis is a good player of spin bowling. We have to improve on bowling our death bowling. If we can improve our last five overs of bowling then I think a lot of things will get better,” he added. (ANI)
