Bangladesh promised to give an improved show in the second Twenty20 International against South Africa today, saying that their bowlers are not as unplayable as it may have looked. Opener Soumya Sarkar said that the batsmen are confident of implementing their plans in a better way than the first game when they were folded for a meagre 96 runs to concede a 52-run defeat.The Proteas successfully defended a modest score of 148-4 owing to their bowling depth that was too much for the Tigers to handle on a difficult wicket at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
Soumya said that the Tigers are capable of handling the attack, which, according to him is nothing ‘extra-ordinary.’
‘They were very normal, just like other bowlers,’ said the opener at the team hotel on Monday.
‘We just could not successfully implement our plan and that’s why they came out on top,’ he said.
Replying to South Africa’s modest score, the Tigers were going neck-to-neck with the visitors despite losing both the openers for 13 as they reached 50 with almost equal pace before JP Duminy turned the game.
Off-break bowler Duminy made the best use of the wicket to grab 2-11 that broke the backbone of Bangladesh’s innings and left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso also played his part with his lone wicket.
Representatives of both the teams said at the post match press conferences that the pitch started providing more turn in the second half of the match making it difficult for Bangladesh.
But Soumya said it was not the pitch, rather some quick dismissals that caused Bangladesh’s downfall.
‘Whenever a team gets into pressure the opponents can get over that side and it was no different with us,’ he said. ‘There was nothing more into it.
‘After Mushfiq Bhai got out and we lost some quick wickets and we went behind.’
‘Everyone saw what went wrong with us. We could execute our planning successfully bowling and fielding but we could not do so with our batting.
‘There was nothing wrong in our planning. The only thing is that we could not execute it. The match would have gone in our favour if we could execute our plans.’
‘We planned to score 45 to 50 runs in the first six overs so that it becomes easy for the rest of the batsmen. But we lost two early wickets and that pushed us on the back foot,’ he said.
Bangladesh went back to drawing board on Monday after the defeat and discussed their shortcomings in a meeting. Only few players, including former one-day captain Mushfiqur Rahim, attended an optional training session at Mirpur.
Soumya said coach Chandika Hathurusinghe asked the team to play the game without being overawed by the opponents and any fear of failure.
‘We just have to play our normal game and play according to our potential,’ said Soumya.
‘I am sure we can come as winners if we can implement our plan to perfection.’
-With New Age input
