Tamim Iqbal speaks out after losing to Zimbabwe. “We could have put more pressure on with dot balls, but instead we gave up easy singles,” Tamim explained.
Bangladesh lost the first match of the ODI series against Zimbabwe, their first 50-over loss to Zimbabwe in nine years, following a poor T20I series. Zimbabwe won by five wickets thanks to the brilliance of Sikandar Raza and Innocent Kaia. Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal believes their fielding cost them the game. The Bangla Tigers were sloppy on the field, and as a result, the team was unable to choke Zimbabwe.
Notably, in the first ODI of the series in Harare, Bangladesh dropped four catches. Taijul Islam dropped Raza on 43, and the all-rounder went on to score 135 runs, while Kaia was dropped twice and also scored a century. Luke Jongwe was later dropped as well.
“Our overall fielding effort harmed us” (in the first ODI). We gave away far too many easy runs. “We could have put more pressure on with dot balls, but instead we gave up easy singles,” Tamim explained.
“I’ve been saying that we’ve been dropping a lot of catches, and it had to cost us somewhere.” This was most likely the day. We’ve previously gotten away with it. “You’re not going to win the game if you drop four catches,” he added.
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Bangladesh’s batting struggle is still ongoing.
Bangladesh team director Khaled Mahmud recently chastised the team for its slow strike rate. Despite having senior pros on the team, the team only managed to score 39 runs in the final five overs. Despite having wickets in hand, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah were unable to capitalize on the situation.
“Given the circumstances, we should have scored 15-20 more runs,” Tamim said. The skipper defended the duo, saying, “It would be very unfair to single out one or two individuals.” We should have gotten those 15-20 runs as a team. Those in the middle worked very hard. They’ve done it numerous times, so I’m not one to point fingers at my players.”
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