Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan stuck by his decision to bowl first despite his side's 87-run defeat against favourites India in the opening match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
"I still think my decision was right," said a confident Shakib in the post-match briefing when the question of whether it could have been a different story had he batted first on a placid track was raised.
And interestingly he had on his side none other than dashing India opener Virender Sehwag -- whose career-best 175 took the game away -- who said that they would have also done the same had they won the toss.
"We were also looking to field first. Chasing 300-320 would have been fine as it is easy to chase," said Sehwag, who almost achieved his target of batting through 50 overs in the match.
Sehwag was outstanding in his batting but it was also the poor bowling performance from the Tigers which sealed the match as India amassed 370 runs for four wickets in their share of 50 overs. Shakib also blamed his team's bowling for the defeat.
Shafiul Islam was the most disappointing because the right-arm paceman was nowhere near his impressive performances of the last year. The two new ball bowlers Shafiul and Rubel Hossain struggled with their line and length which gave the momentum to the Indian openers Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar. The spinners, who form the main strength of the Bangladesh bowling, were also unable to bowl in the right channel against the world's most feared batting line-up.
"We couldn't bowl too well. They bowled too many boundary balls and that cost us the game. The Indian batsmen did really well on the other hand and took the game away from us," observed Shakib.
"Shafiul was maybe slightly nervous but he couldn't execute the plans. He bowled too many boundary balls," he added.
The obvious question was whether the team missed the services of the country's leading paceman Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, who was the hero with a four-wicket haul in Bangladesh's five-wicket victory against India in the 2007 World Cup in West Indies.
"He [Mashrafe] is not in the squad but it wouldn't have been different even if he was. The fast bowlers did well in thelast twelve months and I am sure they'll come back strongly," he hoped.
Despite the defeat the Bangladesh skipper was impressed by his team's batting performance in the match.
"We thought we could win the game by chasing. For our openers the plan was simple -- play the cricketing shots -- and they did that properly. Tamim [Iqbal] tried to do exactly that. We almost got to 300, which is really encouraging," said Shakib.
The outcome however pleased Sehwag most as he lived up to his promise by taking revenge on Bangladesh, but he also praised the Tigers.
"Revenge? I think so. But Bangladesh are a good side, and they are capable of disappointing any side," said Sehwag who also praised young Virat Kohli, who once again proved his ability as the new star in the Indian batting line-up by making an unbeaten hundred on his World Cup debut.
