<i>'Need to improve home standards'</i>

Talismanic Tigers all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan was happy with his stellar performance with the bat in Bangladesh's final ICC World Twenty20 group match against Pakistan, but was disappointed with the way his team lost the do-or-die encounter. In an interview with The Daily Star Sport's Bishwajit Roy, the world's No 1 all-rounder speaks of his disappointment, philosophy and expectations. The following is an excerpt from the freewheeling encounter with Bangladesh's biggest sports personality at the poolside of the Mahaweli Reach Hotel in Kandy an hour before the Bangladesh team's departure for Dhaka on Wednesday:

Daily Star Sport (DSS): How would you evaluate Bangladesh's performance against Pakistan?
Shakib Al Hasan (SAH): It is good if I think of it as a personal achievement. Yes, we failed to qualify for the Super Eights, but I'm more disappointed with the way we lost the match. We scored 175 runs but still the match was not close, which was disappointing. If we had saved 10 to 15 runs in the field and held on to the catch of Imran Nazir as early as the second over, then you never know, things could have been different. At times some failed to apply their common sense -- there was also a lack of intensity in our approach. I always want intensity on the field and I wanted it when I was captain also.
DSS: Why did the pace bowlers bowl so many short balls. Was it a plan?
SAH: We had a plan and you saw Imran Nazir trapped by a short ball but we could not capitalise on that chance. But that doesn't mean you bowl short balls the whole day, which was really surprising.
DSS: How would you compare the frustration of this defeat with earlier ones?
SAH: I'm frustrated because of the manner we lost the game. I will give it six out of ten points in terms of frustration (laughs).
DSS: Was it your best T20 innings?
SAH: It was my best innings by far. I had a plan. What I wanted to do was not to force my batting initially but maintain a 110 to 120 strike rate and play my natural game. I didn't want to force anything.
DSS: Why did you decide to rest rather than practise before the match day? Was there a special plan?
SAH: Not at all. Actually I felt tired, which is why I decided to stay away from practice and I thought it would be good for me. I wanted to preserve my energy before a crucial match. It's not like I would become Don Bradman if I practised on that particular day. And usually I bat for only 10 minutes in practice before match day, but on that day what I felt was that it would be good for me to skip it, that's all. And for the first time in my career I skipped training for no particular reason.
DSS: What was your feeling after the disappointing performance in the first match?
SAH: I was really disappointed with my performance in the first match. You know some of our performances directly affect the team. On the other hand, I also had my own expectations which I failed to fulfil, so it would be unfair to say that I was not thinking about my performance in the first match before the second game. What I felt was that I was more focused on the second game than the first one.
DSS: Did you ever think about a hundred during your magnificent innings?
SAH: Not before the last over. I told Nasir (Hossain) that nobody could stop me from getting the first hundred for Bangladesh if I could manage a boundary in the second ball.
DSS: Why do you think that we failed to perform as per our expectations?
SAH: We are okay in our understanding but the problem is that we could not execute it on the field. We know everything but the problem is we can't apply it in the middle.
DSS: If you had the freedom to add players to the team, what kind of players would you prefer in the side?
SAH: I would love to see bowlers like Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn in my team. I want some brilliant fielder like Johnty Rhodes, Michael Clark and Ricky Ponting. We have some good spinners but not world-class spinners. It will not be possible for me to become a bowler like Saeed Ajmal. I may try to become a spinner like Graeme Swann but in that case I have to sacrifice a bit of my batting.
DSS: Where do you think the problem lies?
SAH: There has been a lack of competition in our country because I know there is none who can replace me, which is very bad. Look at India's Irani Trophy where Rest of India players performed so well that they are putting pressure on the national team players. Whether you agree or not, the real fact is that somehow or other we become complacent, even if sub-consciously, as there is hardly anybody who can push us. This is a real problem in our cricket. Indian batsman Manoj Tiwary was out of the team for 13 matches after making a hundred. Is it possible for our country? There is a healthy competition between Harbhajan Singh and Ashwin in the Indian team but we miss this kind of competition in our team.
DSS: How can we improve our performance?
SAH: Again we must say the same things that we repeatedly say, which is that we have to improve our domestic standard. We must play cricket on true wickets where one can really test his talent. You can't judge one if he does something in favourable conditions. And you have to have the personal urge. I learnt that Ajmal tried his doosra at home by throwing the ball in the nets to his wife. Ajmal is a top bowler in the world now, but still he spent 15 to 20 minutes with our spin bowling coach Saqlain Mushtaq to take his advice, so you have to have that kind of hunger if you want to develop anything in your performance.