Bangladesh head coach Mohammad Salahuddin apologised to the nation after his side ended their Asian Games campaign without a medal following a 63 run defeat to Sri Lanka in the bronze medal match.
Bangladesh were bowled out for just 102 while chasing 166 at Korogi Sports Park. Saif Hassan, Tanzid Hasan Tamim and captain Litton Das all fell for ducks as Bangladesh slipped to four for three.
“To be honest, we are ashamed in front of the people of the country. As a coach, I also think we have failed,” Salahuddin said after the match.
“We could not meet the expectations the people had of us. It is very disappointing and we are ashamed and sorry to the whole nation.”
Bangladesh had reached the semifinal after their opening match was washed out. They then lost to Pakistan before another defeat against Sri Lanka ended their hopes of a medal.
Salahuddin felt Bangladesh failed in key moments with both bat and ball.
“On this wicket, the bowlers bowled very badly for a few overs. The players who are T20 specialists conceded more runs. In batting, we lost too many wickets in the Powerplay.”
Sri Lanka had been struggling at 21 for four and later 54 for five. But Sahan Arachchige and Tharindu Ratnayake led their recovery.
Mustafizur Rahman conceded 25 runs in the 14th over as Sri Lanka changed the course of the innings. Ratnayake went on to score 65 from 32 balls as Sri Lanka reached 165 for nine.
Salahuddin defended Mustafizur despite his difficult outing.
“Mustafizur had been injured for a long time and he has been one of our best players over the last 10 years. He is especially a death overs specialist. So we have to keep our faith in him.”
Bangladesh then made a terrible start to the chase. Saif and Tanzid departed without scoring before Litton also fell for a duck.
Towhid Hridoy made 11 from six balls. Parvez Hossain Emon scored 22, Yasir Ali added 21 and Nasum Ahmed made 26, but Bangladesh were bowled out in 17.3 overs.
Litton also finished the tournament with only two runs from Bangladesh’s two completed matches.
Salahuddin, however, refused to put the blame on individuals.
“I will always say that they fight for the country. They are failing and we are obviously ashamed of that. To be honest, we did not perform well as a team.”
The coach also defended the effort of his players despite questions over their approach during the two defeats.
“The players tried their best, but I think we could not execute our game plan properly,” Salahuddin said.
Bangladesh had travelled to Japan with hopes of challenging for a medal. Instead, defeats to Pakistan and Sri Lanka brought their campaign to a disappointing end.
“We are all disappointed. We came here with a target but we failed. We could not play well,” Salahuddin said.
