Bangladesh suffered an embarrassing 6-run loss against the United States in the second T20I of the three-match series at the Prairie View Cricket Complex in Houston, on May 23 (Thursday). USA won their maiden T20I series against a full-member team with a historic victory. The Star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan reflected on this loss and called it disappointing. However, he also blamed the facilities available in Houston for their dismal performance.
Shakib Al Hasan on series loss against USA
Shakib Al Hasan was highly disappointed with the series loss against the USA. He praised the hosts and called these consecutive defeats a wake-up call ahead of the upcoming edition of the T20 World Cup 2024.
"Certainly it is disappointing and we didn't expect it but we must give credit to the US team for the way they have played. I think no one expected that we will lose two games. Any match you lose as a team is disappointing and you don't want to lose a game and obviously it is very disappointing. But having said that we have to play the World Cup and this series might be a wake-up call for us as we haven't played the way we want to play," Shakib as quoted by Cricbuzz.
"It's a team game and everyone has to take the responsibility - you win as a team and you lose as a team. I don't want to blame any particular person or any particular department. It's just that T20 is such a format you have to play very good cricket in all three departments to win against any team. There are no small or big teams in T20 cricket and that's why it is more exciting than any other format. And the proof of that is in the last two games the way US played," he added
Shakib blames Houston facilities
The veteran cricketer was not impressed with the facilities they got in Houston in order to prepare for the series. He even said that if this series is to help them prepare for the T20 World Cup, they should be getting more facilities. He said that the first practice didn't take place due to rain and they also didn't get enough time in the nets.
"If we take this as a preparation series for the World Cup, in that case we should have a lot more batting and bowling sessions and there should have been more facilities that we didn't get at all. I feel we had a proper net session for one day and even on that day the batsmen could not had required the batting session. And there was an optional day and the batsmen did not seize the opportunity. For one day there was rain and we could not do anything on that day, while there are four grounds but we could train on only three pitches which I don't think is ideal. And I think these things could have been better," he said before insisting that it wasn't an excuse," said Shakib.
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