DHAKA: Bangladesh’s rollover for 43 and 144 in North Sound has shocked the team, but they know they are capable of much better and are determined to prove it in the second Test, said Tamim Iqbal.
According to ICC, in the first of two Tests in the Caribbean, Bangladesh were shot out for 43 in their first innings, their lowest Test score, with Kemar Roach (5/8), Miguel Cummins (3/11) and Jason Holder (2/10) sharing the wickets.
The Windies responded with 406, and Bangladesh then managed just 144, Shannon Gabriel this time returning 5/77, with Holder (3/30) and Cummins (2/16) picking up the remaining wickets, as the home side won by an innings and 219 runs.
Iqbal, who scored 4 and 13 in the first Test, told Bangladeshi media on Sunday, “We are shocked like everyone else as we know we are capable of performing better than what we did. We are not trying to make any excuses as we are aware that our mistakes were responsible for our downfall. The way we performed certainly cannot be acceptable.”
There was spice on the pitch, but not enough to explain 43, admitted Iqbal.
“You cannot blame the wicket, we played bad cricket,” he said. “But we are not so bad as a team that we will get bundled out for 43 and 144 runs. See, we played better cricket even in difficult conditions in New Zealand, and even if we compare it with our South Africa tour [late last year] you cannot find the answer.”
Iqbal also blamed the batsmen for throwing their wickets away on occasion. “From our top-order batting, not a single batsman was able to settle down. Then how can you explain this debacle? If you remember, we overcame much greater difficulties as a team playing against much better bowling attacks previously, but everything went wrong in Antigua,” he said.
The second Test starts in Kingston on Thursday, 12 July, and Iqbal wants the batsmen, and the team, to have faith in their abilities.
“The most important thing is to have faith in our abilities and back ourselves. We must trust our own ability and believe that we can score big runs in difficult conditions,” said Iqbal. “We have to believe that we are better than our opponent, both individually and team-wise.”
The series started with Bangladesh at No.8 and the Windies one spot below in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings, but a series win for the home side – whether 1-0 or 2-0 – will take them above the visitors.