Bangladesh women’s cricket team head coach Janak Champika Gamage held the senior members of the side responsible for the meagre shows in their recently concluded tour of Pakistan.
The Bangladesh women suffered heavy defeats in both the Twenty20 international and ODI series and Gamage is of the opinion that the continued failures of the senior batters of the side were the main reasons the hosts ran away with both the series.
“Our poor batting is the main reason behind the defeats. The senior batters in the team failed to perform. We had a good preparation. We had a very good camp and played a few practice matches and also worked deeply on the batting. But we failed to work as an unit with the bat in Pakistan,” Gamage told the media at Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.
“They (senior batters) were irresponsible and did not use sense when they batted in the matches. This is the reason why we had such a poor show with the bat. There were a few new girls who performed but to be honest I am not at all happy with the seniors,” said the former Sri Lankan cricketer.
The T20I and ODI series between the two teams however, very much took a back-seat as the main concern was centring around the security of the cricketers in the terror-infested country.
And despite losing all four matches on the tour, Salma Khatun and her troop expressed satisfaction over the security and hospitality afforded by the home side.
“The security (in Karachi) was fantastic. I cannot describe the kind of security we got there. We actually didn’t expect that much. We only concentrated on our games because there were no security fears for us. Pakistan Cricket Board officials welcomed us at the airport where even the journalists were not allowed to speak with us,” added Gamage.
Bangladesh’s next assignment was supposed to be held at home this month against South Africa. The series though was postponed after Cricket South Africa notified its concerns with regards to the security situation in Bangladesh.
Gamage on the issue said it would have been better had the series taken place as it would have helped them to prepare for the 2016 ICC Women’s World T20 qualifiers, slated for November 28-December 5 this year in Thailand.
