'Everything went wrong'

The Tigers were still searching for an answer after the batting debacle in the first Test against West Indies in Antigua. "Like fans and media people the players are still in shock after such a pathetic batting display. There is no scope to make any excuse; instead we have to admit our mistakes that caused this debacle but the question remains: why did it happen?" said opener Tamim Iqbal while talking to The Daily Star over phone last night.

"You cannot blame the wicket, so we played bad cricket. But we are not so bad as a team that we will get bundled out for 43 and 144 runs. See, we played better cricket even in difficult conditions in New Zealand and even if we compare it with our South Africa tour [last September-October] you cannot find the answer.

"From top-order batting, not a single batsman was able to settle down; then how can  you explain this debacle? Yes, you can say [Mahmudullah] Riyad bhai's, Mominul's [Haque] in the second innings and my dismissal in the first innings were against quality deliveries, but it still cannot be an excuse," continued the left-hander.

"If you remember, we overcame much greater difficulties as a team playing against much better bowling attacks previously, but everything went wrong in Antigua," he added.

Tamim informed that everyone was disappointed following the humiliating innings and 219-run defeat but were looking forward to bouncing back strongly in the second Test; which begins on July 12 at Sabina Park in Kingston.

"It is no secret that we came here to the West Indies with high hopes this time but we made a terrible start. The good thing is that players realised their mistakes and are confident of playing better cricket in the second Test. Everybody admitted their mistakes, nobody wants to give any excuse and all are looking forward to come back from that shock and that's the reason I am hopeful you will see a much better performance us," hoped Tamim.

Tamim however issued a warning that it would be suicidal to go into the second Test with a view to regaining some respectability in order to make up for the bad performance in the first Test.

"We must keep believing in ourselves... tell ourselves that we are not a bad team. We should go to the field with a positive mindset, and we can in no way think that it will be enough for us if we can just do better than in the first Test," he said.