Mirpur, Feb 26: Ireland skipper William Porterfield shared the blame for his side's 27-run defeat against Bangladesh in a group B match and said he let the team down by failing to give the team a good start.
Playing their first World Cup match yesterday, Ireland bowlers bundled out Bangladesh for 205 in 49.2 overs but their batsmen failed to capitalise on the opportunity with opener Poterfield himself scoring just 20 runs.
"We couldn't ask for anything else from our bowlers who restricted them to 205 but our batting let us down. No one really got in. I let myself down and the team down. I should have taken some more responsiblity," he told reporters.His counterpart Shakib Al Hasan, on the other hand, was jubiliant after bringing their campaign back on track.
The inspirational all-rounder heaped praise on his bowlers and said the team did not lose self beilef even after setting a modest target for Ireland.
"The whole team believed that we could win, I thought their belief was more than me. They were telling me that we'd win by 20-30 runs before we headed out. Our bowling and fielding won it for us," he said.
However, Shakib conceded that the team should have put up a better batting display. He also singled out pacer Shafiul Islam for special praise for his four-wicket haul against Ireland.
"It is good for the team but We didn't apply ourself with the bat. We should have batted a lot better. But the crowd was just unbelievable," he said."We knew Shafiul would make a good comeback and he did.Good for him," he added. PTI
