'Irresponsible batting'

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan admitted that "irresponsible" batting by the top-order resulted in a five-wicket defeat against Zimbabwe in the first one-day international of the five-match series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
It was in no way an ideal start for the Tigers to the new season after memorable successes in West Indies and Zimbabwe few months back, but the world's number one one-day all-rounder promised that his team would come back in the series.
"We are a much better team, but made too many mistakes in the first game. The mindsets of our top-order batsmen including myself were wrong and we must rectify those mistakes in the next matches. We can still win the series 4-1," said a confident Shakib in the post-match briefing.
"We were not focussed on our batting and that's why lost too many early wickets. Right that they bowled a tight line and length, but we must have got ourselves out of that situation. We failed to ensure balance in our batting. At times we were bogged down too much and sometimes went wild," he added reflecting on his team's precarious situation of 62 for six.
The Tigers skipper also said that his bowlers did well in defence of 186 runs but both Elton Chigumbura and Stuart Matsikenyeri played exceptionally well after left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak had rocked the tourists with triple strikes in one over.
"We can't blame anything except our poor batting. There was nothing for the bowlers on the scoreboard and our fielding was also not too bad. I must thank Elton and Stuart for their brilliant efforts because anything could have happened had we broken the partnership early on," explained Shakib.
Shakib was also not ready to blame playing T20 cricket just before the start of the series. "As a professional player one must adjust with different formats. I don't think it was the reason behind the defeat, rather, once again, it was our irresponsible batting."
Zimbabwe skipper Prosper Utseya however didn't turn up to express his delight in the briefing due to injury he picked while fielding and vice-captain Hamilton Masakadza appeared in the media room to declare that they were looking forward to winning the series.
"We missed a lot of chances in the last series but today we grabbed the opportunity and it was a team effort. We are looking forward to keep up the momentum," said Masakadza.
On the other hand man-of-the-match Chigumbura said that he was always confident that he could do something for his side.
"I think I am improving day by day because of self-confidence. I always have belief in myself. I love to think myself as a batting all-rounder, and any good effort as a bowler is always considered as a bonus," said Chigumbura, who did the main damage by picking up three wickets which was followed by a match-winning unbeaten 60.