Dhaka Gladiators captain Mohammad Ashraful hit back at critics who have questioned their batting approach during their Saturday’s 54-run loss to Chittagong Kings in Chittagong.
Chasing Kings’ 142 all out, Gladiators suffered a batting collapse when they lost their first four wickets for 15 runs and could never recover from the damage. Ashraful provided some resistance with his 48-ball 38, but the holders still could manage only 88-9, the lowest by any side in the BPL history.
Ashraful, the stand-in captain for the game, was criticised by a section of the media, who sensed something wrong and also questioned his approach that never suggested he was batting for a win.
While Ashraful admitted it was difficult for him to try and win the game from that situation, he strongly denied the claim that he had deliberately batted slowly.
‘These are all rubbish,’ Ashraful told New Age over phone. ‘Why on earth I would bat slowly deliberately. You all saw it was a difficult wicket to bat on as there was always big turn for the spinners. And things got tougher once we lost so many wickets in the first six overs.
Ashraful admitted he did not try for a win after the collapse and rather wanted to take the team to a respectable position.
‘If I did the same like the others, may be we would have been dismissed for 40 to 50 runs. I am sure nobody would have liked that,’ said Ashraful.
‘So I tried to stay as long as possible so that we don’t do too much damage to our run rate. Teams are so close in this BPL, you never know at the end of the league matches this could be a factor as well.
‘The other day Sylhet Royals also lost
three wickets for barely 10 runs against us, but nobody had questioned their approach. I am surprised to see that this happened to us, which I think is unfair,’ he said.”
-With New Age input
