In a crucial World Cup 2023 match against India, Bangladesh’s stand-in captain, Najmul Hossain Shanto, addressed a controversial wide delivery bowled to Virat Kohli, emphasizing that it was an unintentional mistake.
Shanto clarified that there was no plan to intentionally bowl a wide ball to Kohli, who was in his nineties at the time. Despite the unintentional incident, Kohli went on to secure both the victory and his 48th ODI century by hitting a six against left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed in the 42nd over.
“No, no. It was unintentional. We didn’t plan that. Bowlers didn’t mean to bowl a wide ball. We aimed to play a good game. Also, Tamim batted well. He had a tough time in recent matches, but today’s performance was impressive. The team hopes for more significant innings from him. I wish he gets the chance to play a bigger innings in the future,” Shanto said in the post-match press conference.
However, Shanto expressed disappointment with his team’s batting performance during the middle overs of the ODI World Cup match against India at the MCA Stadium in Pune. Despite a strong start with their best-ever opening partnership at the World Cup, an 88-ball, 93-run stand between Litton Das and young opener Tanzid Hasan, Bangladesh lost their way after losing their top four batsmen within the next 13 overs, even with the absence of Hardik Pandya due to injury. The Tigers managed to reach a total of 256 for eight, with some limited contributions from the lower order.
“I feel our batting in the middle overs wasn’t up to par. The situation would have been different if the openers stayed longer. We had a couple of wickets that were easily given away. The pitch was good, but the batsmen didn’t shoulder their responsibilities,” Shanto added.