Bangladesh batters made heavy weather of the chase of 125 runs against Sri Lanka but skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto isn't too worried as they were able to make a winning start in the T20 World Cup. (As It Happened|Scorecard|Full Coverage)
Bangladesh were cruising along at 91 for 3 courtesy Towhid Hridoy (40) and Litton Das (36) before they lost five wickets for 21 runs. It was Mahmudullah Riyad, who hit a six off Dasun Shanaka to ensure a two-wicket victory for Shanto's men.
"I don't think there are many reasons to worry. I'm saying this because it was a very intense match. We wanted to win at the end of the day. So if you think about the result, we got two points," Shanto said at the post-match press conference.
"All the batsmen know that we didn't bat well. But not everyone plays well everyday. Like Hridoy played a very good innings, Riyad finished the game, Litton gave a beautiful start after a long time. So, we are good in some areas.
"So, I hope that whoever gets set on any day should make the match win. I don't expect that all the seven batsmen in the team will play well."
The two openers, Tanzid Hassan and Soumya Sarkar, failed but the skipper came to their rescue.
"As I said earlier, the game is not for the openers only. We have seven batsmen batting at the top. It's everyone's responsibility.
"As a captain, I want that whoever gets set and gets a good start, should finish the game. I hope that the openers will give a good start and finish the game. So, I hope and I am optimistic that everyone will do well."
Rishad Hossain's two wickets in two balls proved to be a game-changer and the skipper was all praise for the young leg-spinner.
"I always have faith in him (Rishad) because he is a wicket-taking bowler. We all know that it's not easy to play a leg-spinner. There can be two or one boundary, but there is always a possibility of taking a wicket. So, I have tried to do that.
"And in his case, I haven't seen left-hand or right-hand matters a lot for him. So, as a captain, I wanted him to take out one or two wickets, which he did perfectly."
Shanto said that he is more bothered about his players rather than what kind of narrative is being set in social media after they lost a series to the USA just before the T20 World Cup.
"No, those who talk on social media can say whether this has been stopped, but we cannot control social media. I don't think the players are following social media a lot and it's not in our control either.
"So, we are only thinking about the things we can control and how honest we are, whether we are taking our preparation well and we are trying 100% to make the team win the game.
"We think about these only and the 15-17 players who are here, everyone tries to give their 120%. They think about winning every day to make the team win."
