The Netherlands’ defeat is bittersweet and incredibly challenging to process: -Shakib Al Hasan

The captain of Bangladesh, Shakib Al Hasan, said that it is “very difficult to digest” that his team lost to the Netherlands.

Bangladesh lost against the Netherlands by 87 runs at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, their fifth straight loss in the 2017 ICC Cricket World Cup.

Bangladesh collapsed at 142 in 42.2 overs as they chased a 230-run goal while batting second. Mehidy Hasan was the only batter to score more than 30 runs throughout the run chase. Bangladesh appears to be nearing the end of their season as they sit ninth in the ten-team standings.

Shakib Al Hasan said without a doubt that the current competition is Bangladesh’s weakest ODI World Cup performance. The 36-year-old continued, saying, “I have no idea about the team’s dismal performance,” adding that they haven’t had much of an impact with the bat but have been excellent with the ball thus far in the tournament. The Dutch team’s setback, he continued, was “very difficult to digest.”

“There’s no denying that this is Bangladesh’s poorest World Cup showing. I have no explanation for why we played the way we did. In the field, we were careless. We bowled really well. Throughout the tournament, we haven’t batted as well as we could have. It is really concerning. We completely handed the Dutch the two points today as well. It is difficult to ingest. It is really challenging to process. According to ESPNcricinfo, Shakib stated following the game, “These things can happen in cricket.”

He continued by saying that the only players doing well in the competition thus far were Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim. He added that Mahmudullah could have started the match at a better spot in the lineup, which would have benefited them.

If I had to summarize our six games as a batting team, I would say that we were horrible. Every batter except Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim was below average. Riyad [Mahmudullah] and Mushfiq may have fulfilled their roles if our batters performed well at the top. I agree that we might have performed better if Riyad bhai had batted higher in the order. We’ve all been disappointed except from that, he continued.