Tigers return back home
BCB- Roton Gomes
|| CF Correspondent ||
Bangladesh national cricket team returned home on Sunday after finishing a mixed campaign in the 2019 ICC World Cup in England and Wales.
All-rounder Shakib al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Liton Kumar Das, and Mehedy Hasan did not accompany the team that arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport today at 5:20 pm.
National head coach Steve Rhodes also accompanied while other members of the team management did not arrive with their charges that had earned three wins in the ongoing edition of the World Cup and failed to progress beyond the group stage.
Bangladesh had a bright start to their sixth participation in the biggest cricketing extravaganza as they beat South Africa by 21 runs at The Oval, London in their tournament opener.
However, they lost to New Zealand and England respectively by two wickets and 106 runs in their next two matches before their fourth match against Sri Lanka was washed-out.
The Tigers fought back strongly by beating West Indies by seven wickets at Taunton before losing a high-scoring affair against Australia by 48 runs at Trent Bridge.
Bangladesh defeated Afghanistan by 62 runs in their next match at Southampton to keep their semi-final hopes alive before losing their match against India by 28 runs at Edgbaston to be knocked out from the tournament.
The Tigers put up their worst performance in the tournament against Pakistan in their last match of league stage when they conceded a 94-run hammering in their maiden appearance at Lord’s to end their campaign on a losing note.
Skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza, who was criticized for his below-par performance, said that he is taking all the blame for the debacle as he failed to lead from the front.
‘’Being the captain I have to shoulder all the expectations from the team and all the mishaps that happened I have to take the responsibility,’’ Mashrafe told reporters at the airport premises on Sunday.
‘’This is usual if someone else was in my place he would also said this. Discussions about my performance around the world is common, this happens and it will happen. Overall if some things were with us we could have shown better performance,’’ he said.
Bangladesh ended the tournament with seven points from nine matches, winning three, the same number of victories they earlier secured in 2007, 2011 and 2015 editions of the World Cup.
