A couple of days after India were crowned T20 World Cup 2024 champions, a Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) official made a stunning revelation. Taskin Ahmed missed the team bus for the Super 8 match against India and later apologised for not picking up the phone.
As per Cricbuzz, the BCB official said that Taskin missed the team bus as he was sleeping late. He did not pick up his phone either. Eventually, one of the officials stayed at the team hotel.
There were speculations when Bangladesh played with only two pacers – Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Mustafizur Rahman -- against India. There were speculations that head coach Chandrika Hathurusingha benched him for his careless behaviour. However, the BCB officials falsified the reports.
"It is true that he (Taskin) joined the team later after missing the team bus. But why he did not play only the coach can say because whether he was in the plan or not (against India) is something that can be answered by the head coach (Chandika Hathurusingha)," he said.
"If there was any issue (between coach and the player) how he played the next game against Afghanistan. He apologised to his team mates and everyone for not being able to get up on time and that's it and no need to make an issue out of it," he added.
Hathurusingha is yet to make an official comment on the issue.
Pacers struggled while Taskin warmed the benches
In Taskin's absence, Mustafizur Rahman struggled and conceded 48 runs. In-form Sakib bagged two wickets but conceded 32 runs as they missed the services of the veteran pacer. Hardik Pandya's unbeaten half-century helped India post a daunting total of 196/5 in Antigua. In reply, Bangladesh managed to post 146/8 and lost the match by eight runs. Bangladesh lost all three of their Super 8 matches as Afghanistan and India progressed to the semifinals from Group 1.
Earlier, Taskin suffered with a side strain but was still named in the T20 World Cup squad. He bagged 9 wickets from six games. His best bowling performance came against South Africa as he took two wickets for just 19 runs to restrict South Africa's score to 113/9. But Bangladesh lost by four runs in a low-scoring run chase in New York.
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
