ASIA CUP 2025
Nurul Hasan plays a shot during Bangladesh’s defeat © AFP
Bangladesh head coach Phil Simmons believed that missing out on the services of in-form captain Litton Kumar Das in their do-or-die game against Pakistan made the difference in the outcome of the contest.
Bangladesh lost the game by 11 runsas they collapsed chasing 136 after the bowlers gave them hope to reach the final of the inter-continental event.
Litton, who was ruled out against India and Pakistan after sustaining an injury during practice ahead of their game against India, scored two fifties in his last five T20I innings making 273 runs altogether.
“Losing the captain in such good form is a big thing for us. When someone of his class is suddenly unavailable, the situation gets tough,” said Simmons after being eliminated from the tournament.
Simmons said that their batters made some poor decisions in the middle against Pakistan, labelling poor shot selection. The coach did however, commend his troops for being composed against Sri Lanka in their first Super Four encounter when they chased 169.
“We didn’t have to chase it in any [particular number of] overs. We just had to win the game,” said Simmons. “It was just bad decisions. All of the teams have that at some point. It was us today. We didn’t make the best shot selections.
“We just chased 160 [169 vs Sri Lanka] two games ago. We are not a team that can lose Tanzid [Hasan] and captain [Litton] in one game and just fill [the void] like that. We are getting to that stage, we are not there yet there,” he said.
Simmons defended their decision to promote lower order batter Mahedi Hasan at No.4 as he felt the bowling all-rounder had the ability to launch a counter-attack against the Pakistani pacers.
“You look at it as someone batting at No 4. I look at it as someone taking on the pacers in the PowerPlay. He (Mahedi) could have taken on the pacers more, than if he went in the lower order against the spinners. I had Jaker [Ali] and Shamim [Hossain] down there, who could take on the spinners,” said the head coach.
On the field, Bangladesh grasped three catches which made Simmons feel that Pakistan got some amount of confidence, after their lower order bailed them out of a dire situation.
Shaheen Shah Afridi, who hit two sixes in a 13-ball 19, was dropped twice by Nurul Hasan and Mahedi Hasan when they were struggling at 51 for 5. Mohammad Nawaz, who went on to make 25 off 15 balls with two sixes and a four, was dropped by Parvez Hossain Emon before he had even opened his account.
Simmons, however, did not want to label the ‘ring of fire’ floodlights as an excuse for dropping catches. “When we dropped Shaheen and Nawaz, that’s where the game changed,” he said. “Before that, we were in control,” said Simmons.
“Some of the catches maybe [had something to do with the lights] but I don’t think the ones we dropped had anything to do with the lights,” he said.
Simmons said that they are addressing strike-rate issues in comparison to the other countries but added that the batters need to bat for longer periods of time.
“The [strike-rate] gap will reduce the more we play at the international level, the guys will know what to do at this level,” said Simmons. “I agree that our strike-rate isn’t up there, but we are up there in six-hitting. I don’t think it is about our ability to score quickly. We have to bat for longer and put on partnerships,” he said.
Simmons ended on a positive note from the competition, mentioning some positives for the team to take back and build upon. Bangladesh had defeated Afghanistan and Sri Lanka in succession before going down in back-to-back matches against India and Pakistan.
Though they failed to progress to the final Simmons insisted that opener Saif Hasan and bowling unit performed well. “He [Saif] is definitely the biggest positive from this [campaign]. The other one is how our bowlers did in the whole tournament. They were spot-on, every game,” he concluded.
© Cricbuzz
