'Blame yourself, not the pitch'
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan said yesterday that it was not the pitch but poor batting that caused Bangladesh's debacles against Sri Lanka in the ODI tri-series.
The BCB boss also came down hard on those who were trying to shift the blame to BCB's chief curator Gamini Silva rather than taking responsibility for their own shortcomings.
"There was no relation between the defeat and the pitch… no way. It's not good to shift blame on others rather than taking it on their own shoulders. This kind of mentality has suddenly grown in the team, which was not the case earlier," said Hassan while talking to reporters at his residence last night.
"It happened because of poor batting and if you cannot bat properly then what can the pitch do. I cannot believe that we were not capable of chasing 221 runs. Was it a shot that Tamim [Iqbal] played? Was it a shot that Sabbir [Rahman] played? We shouted from the box when Mushfiqur [Rahim] first played the sweep and then he made the same mistake… three major players made mistakes. On the other hand, two players fell victim to run-outs when it was unnecessary to go for the run," he explained.
"You have to understand and read the pitch because you will not always get it as you wish. If they failed to read the pitch after so many years, then what can I say?" he asked.
"They should come out of the blame game and instead think about their own mistakes and concentrate on their game and responsibility," he added.
He was also surprised to learn that the current team management has decided on the team for the first Test two days before the game, when earlier they decided only after the final inspection of the pitch.
"We can in no way blame Gamini, who is a very professional guy. Hope you don't forget that we had a lot of success during his time," he said, before adding: "I cannot say more as a series is going on."
Hassan also revealed that Cricket Australia informed that they were not interested in hosting Bangladesh for a two-match Test series in August-September this year as it will not be commercially viable for them.
"We will discuss the matter with them during the next ICC meeting and we may discuss other formats if Tests are not possible, but nothing is concrete at this moment," he said.
Comments