Bangladesh Capable of Performing Better than What they Did - Tamim Iqbal

Senior Bangladesh batsman, Tamim Iqbal has admitted the team is capable of performing better than what they did in the first Test against the Windies at Antigua.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh found Windies attack to be tough to tackle on a challenging wicket, as they lost by an innings and 219 runs. The hosts crushed them within three days as the batsmen failed to apply themselves.

The host bowl out Bangladesh for a mere 43, their lowest ever score in the first innings. Furthermore, the second innings was only marginally better losing six wickets for 62 runs at the close of second day’s play, after Windies piled 403 runs in their first innings.

“We are shocked like everyone else as we know we are capable of performing better than what we did [in the opening game],” Tamim confessed. “We are not trying to make any excuses as we are aware that our mistakes were responsible for our downfall. The way we performed certainly cannot be acceptable,” he added.

Keep faith in yourself

Tamim admitted they are eyeing a comeback in the second Test through better performance. Furthermore, he also urged his teammates to keep confidence in their abilities.

“For us, the most important thing is to have faith on our abilities and back ourselves,” said Tamim. “We must trust our own ability and believe that we can score big runs in difficult conditions. We have to believe that we are better than our opponent, both individually and team-wise,” he added.

Bangladesh went into this series ahead of the Windies in the ICC Test Team Ranking. However, an outcome of 1-0 in the series will ensure the hosts go past their opponents.

“The way Sohan [Nurul Hasan] batted and received the support from the lower order [Rubel Hossain] in the opening Test, it suggests that if we can manage to stay at the wicket we are capable of scoring runs,” Tamim concluded.

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