Pakistan set a target of 202 runs for Bangladesh in the second T20I. Chasing almost the same target, Bangladesh’s batsmen failed again today, just like in the first match. They lost wickets regularly from the start and were stopped at 144 runs. Bangladesh’s highest individual score in the match came from the bat of pacer Tanjim Shakib (50). He later said that it is possible to win by chasing 200 runs on this pitch.
Tanjim Shakib, who represented Bangladesh at the post-match press conference, revealed the secret to his batting success, saying, “When I went to the wicket, (Mehdi Hasan) Miraj bhai was batting. My only target was to support him. As long as he was on the field, I wanted to rotate the strike.” Miraj bhai was telling me, “You stay, if you have us, we can win the match. But unfortunately we lose a lot of wickets. If we want to chase 200, the batters have to take more responsibility. If we bat more responsibly from the top, I think it is possible to chase 200.”
Shariful Islam got injured at the beginning of this match and went off the field. As a result, he was not bowled after just 3 balls. Regarding his teammate’s pacer’s injury, Shakib said, “Liton (Das) bhai managed the matter well after Shariful’s injury. He used the occasional bowler well. He was not too worried about it. I tried to support Miraj bhai in batting. After Hasan (Mahmud) came, I said that if I get the ball in the slot, I will hit it. That was the plan.”
The pacer also claimed that the team was suffering from losing wickets quickly, “I think losing wickets back to back has suffered us. After (Parvez Hossain) Emon’s dismissal, we also lost (Tanjid Hasan) Tamim. Liton-(Tawhid) Hridoy tried to form a pair, but we lost Liton too. We also lost Hridoy’s wicket. We collapsed after losing wickets back to back like this.”
