Shakib Al Hasan has questioned Bangladesh's batting approach after their 50-run loss to Team India in a Super Eight clash of the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup.
The former Bangladesh skipper feels that the team could have put in a better performance against Australia and India in their respective Super Eight matches.
Shakib criticized the batters for their poor intent and felt that it didn't allow them to build pressure on the opposition in both matches.
"We have a 50 per cent win rate in this World Cup but if we had fought against India and Australia the way we fought against South Africa, we could have called it a good World Cup campaign," Shakib was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
"We are short of runs as a batting unit. We made 140 in the last game, 146 today. We should have done better today since we had a target in front of us. We couldn't even show it to people that we were trying (to chase the target) today. I don't think the confidence was there. We have lacked in this area throughout the World Cup."
"You have to bring your A-game against teams like Australia and India. I think we lacked in skill and strength. We couldn't do the basics for longer periods to create pressure.
"Throughout this World Cup, I don't think we justified ourselves as a batting unit. We are capable of scoring big runs. We were well short of par scores like 175-185 in the last two games, both played on good wickets. Maybe India scored 20 more runs today but we have to show the intent from the start of the innings. I don't think it was there," he added.
Tamim Iqbal was left surprised by the Bangladesh captain's decision to bowl first despite being aware of their batting struggles earlier in the tournament.
"(Najmul Hossain Shanto) said that he should have finished the game but Bangladesh never got close in this contest. I didn't understand why he would say that. Bangladesh's batting has disappointed in this whole tournament. The think-tank really needs to think about how they will go from here on," Tamim told ESPNcricinfo.
"When your batters are scoring runs, you are confident that your batting line-up can chase down a total like 160 or 170. When you know that your batting is struggling, it surprised me that [Bangladesh] decided to bowl first. Couple of their decisions have surprised me in this game. Fingers will be pointed," he added.
