Shanto lasted till the 42nd over and missed out on his second ODI hundred probably because he rapidly ran out of specialist batters at the other end.
Still, it was Shanto who was set out to defend Bangladesh’s abject batting showing in Pallekele. It is a venue where teams win averaging 280-plus batting first in day-night ODIs. Shanto said that they knew that a slightly lower total would have been hard to chase in these conditions, which is why they decided to bat first, but a lack of top-order partnerships cost them the game.
“Our initial plan was to look to score around 250-260 runs,” Shanto said. “Batting was quite easy against the new ball, but it got harder as the ball got older. It wasn’t an easy wicket, but we should have put together partnerships in the top order. We should have batted better. We don’t want to make these mistakes in the next game. We thought we should bat first after looking at the wicket. We all agreed with the captain and coach’s decision. We didn’t bat well. I wouldn’t call it an easy wicket, but we should have batted better.”
Bangladesh lost debutant Tanzid Hasan, Mohammad Naim and Shakib Al Hasan within the first eleven overs. Shanto and Hridoy, and later Rahim, tried to revive the innings but the Sri Lankan bowling kept them at bay with regular wickets. The tail caved in quickly and predictably.
Bangladesh succumbed to the unorthodox pairing of Maheesh Theekshana and Matheesha Pathirana, who shared figures of 6-51 in 15.4 overs. Shanto, however, said that neither the type of bowling nor the fact that Bangladesh’s top four consisted of only left-handers, for the first time in 12 years in an ODI, hurt them.
“We were prepared to face all types of bowling, so we are all capable to bat in any situation and against any bowling attack. I don’t think (the top four being left-handers) was a big problem.
“We don’t have such bowlers in our country. We prepared with whatever resources we have. He (Pathirana) is a good bowler. But I will say that we have done well against good bowling attacks. It didn’t happen today. It will be okay in the next game,” he said.
Shanto said that their latest performance against Afghanistan – beating them in the T20I series at home last month – will be on their mind as they face them in Lahore. But he wasn’t keen to talk about more than just the next game, not least about the impending India-Pakistan match, nor their tough progress to the next round.
“We did well in the T20I series against Afghanistan,” Shanto said. “We didn’t do well in the ODIs. We are not too worried about the past. We have a good team. We believe that if we can play our cricket, we can get a good result against Afghanistan.
“We have to win the next game. I think it is possible (to make to the next round). But I would rather plan and prepare for the next match rather than think too far ahead. If we can beat Afghanistan, we will think about the other stuff.”
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84