Shakib Al Hasan said that the Tigers never had the thought of drawing the one-off Test match against Zimbabwe, which they ended up losing by 130 runs yesterday.
“We never thought of drawing the Test match, defend and spend time at the crease,” he said during the press conference.
“We thought of winning the game. I thought I played some shots which were too early in the innings. I shouldn’t have played those shots,” he explained after his shot-a-minute stay at the crease that lasted just six balls.
With his side in trouble at 167 for five, Shakib decided to go for broke. After hitting a risky boundary and swinging wildly, the skipper edged one to second slip off Elton Chigumbura to end all hopes.
But despite the demoralising loss, Shakib wouldn’t call it a black day for the country’s cricket.
“I don’t know if this is the most disappointing day for us or not, but it is disappointing to lose a match of cricket especially in this situation against them.
“Nothing to take away from them, they were disciplined. They outplayed us in both departments,” he said.
When asked to explain his drop down to No 7 when he has batted most of his Test career at six, Shakib said it was to accommodate Mushfiqur Rahim in the batting line-up.
“We were about to send a nightwatchman but Mushy said (last evening) he wanted to go before that because he felt that in the first innings, there wasn’t enough batsmen so that he can spend more time in the wicket. So he asked to go in No 5,” said Shakib.
“It is disappointing for all of us. We didn’t bat well; the wicket was a very good one. We should’ve scored more runs than we did. I think that was the main problem,” he added.
-With The Daily Star input
