Bangladesh ODI captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza took full responsibility of his team’s below par performance in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. The Tigers, ahead of the tournament, expected to reach the semifinals stage of the 10-nation competition but in the end, finished the tournament at the disappointing eighth spot.
Fingers were pointed at the team for not being consistent. Only Shakib al Hasan could produce an outstanding outing of England with his record all-round performance while others had only showed glimpses. As a result, the Tigers could snatch only three wins against five defeats.
Mashrafe, the charismatic captain, who looked completely out of sort, took the entire responsibility.
“Being a captain I have to take criticism and responsibility if the team does not perform. So I am taking full responsibility. Yes, there has been criticism coming towards me and it is the same around the world and happens after a major sports tournament. But overall, I think we could have been at a different position if a few things had gone in our way,” said Mashrafe upon the team’s return to Dhaka on Sunday.
The Bangladesh team reached home following a two-and-a-half month tour of the United Kingdom. The Tigers were on a high having won the Tri Nations series involving West Indies and hosts Ireland in the first leg of the tour.
At the World Cup, Bangladesh started on a winning note defeating South Africa and later registered wins against West Indies and Afghanistan. The Tigers were in contention for the semi finals until a defeat in their second last league game, against India and then they had an opportunity to finish on fifth by winning against Pakistan. But as it happened, Bangladesh endured a convincing defeat against Pakistan and slid to number eight in the points table before boarding the flight home.
Shakib, along with Sabbir Rahman, Liton Das and Mehidy Miraz extended their stay in England with family.
“We were in the semifinal race till the India game but as I said few things didn’t go for us as planned. We were not consistent except for Shakib and Mushfiqur and there were few areas where luck did not favor us. There was a week where rain had affected not only us but also other teams in the tournament,” Mashrafe explained.
“It has been a disappointing campaign given the expectations we had from the World Cup this time. But the way the whole competition has been for us, we could have gone to the semi finals if a few things would had gone for us. We did have a positive approach,” the Bangladesh ODI captain added.
