I won’t give excuses: Tamim

After the thrashing 91-run defeat against Sri Lanka in their first ODI, stand-in skipper Tamim Iqbal was disappointed when he talked to the reporters in the post match conference.

In a chase of 314 runs, the batsmen seemed lost from the beginning as the openers failed to give a proper start. Tamim got out in the first over of the innings not having troubled the scorecard at all when an in-swinger by Malinga smashed the leg stumps.

" I won't give excuses, I don't like it. The way I got out was unlucky. But, I am getting out like this a lot lately. I have to take it up my chin. I don't want to explain this. People and team expect a lot from me. I have to perform well." said the stand-in skipper

"Everyone knew Malinga was going to play the Yorkers but there are few deliveries that you cannot do much about. If you see my dismissal, it swung at the last moment, what can you do about it. I tried my best. On the third ball, I defended nicely but the ball was too good for me. I put my hands up in this one." added Tamim.

Bangladesh had a decent first half when they restricted Sri Lanka to 314 as a poor start with the new ball was soon revered by some good death bowling by Mustafizur Rahman and Shafiul Islam.

"We bowled at the death very well. Special thanks to Mustafizur and Shafiul. Especially Shafiul, because he was included suddenly at the last moment in the squad and to perform so well after this is really hard for any cricket. He did really nicely. We were disappointed with the new ball. The Sri Lankan batsmen rarely had to hit good balls to score runs. It was either a bouncer or a ball outside leg. We have to change this and come back stronger. This is a good wicket and if we give away like this then it is hard to win in such wicket. But, I have faith in my bowlers, I know they will come back stronger in the next matches." said the dashing opener.

Tigers were still hopeful to snatch the win as the target of 314 looked gettable but a top order collapse meant the Bangladesh side were in trouble.  After the early demise of Tamim, Soumya Sarker and Mohammad Mithun looked to build a partnership but a length ball by Pradeep Kumar sent Mithun back with a leg before wicket before Soumya fell to another yorker by Malinga. Bangladesh were still in contention when Mushfiqur Rahim and Sabbir Rahman who scored 67 and 60 runs respectively, came to the rescue with a 111 run partnership stand. However, with the demise of Sabbir, hopes seemed to fade. No batsmen looked to take responsibility to see off the game and the skipper was not too pleased about it and hoped his batsmen would ensure that once they settle in, they would go on to score big runs.

"When a batsmen gets out early, what players from other countries do is bring the game home when they settle in. If you see our batting, when our upper order collapsed and Mushy-Sabbir got into the wicket, if they added 60-70 more runs, it could have been a bit different." said  Tamim.

"Responsibility should be taken by everyone. Blaming someone will be wrong. Whether you have played for the country for 10 years or 2 years, everyone has to take responsibility. Blaming one or two persons in not nice.  I am not that kind of a person that will point out individuals. The 11 players that are playing will have to take responsibility. We are still in the competition. I think we just have to regroup. If we want to do well in this series, the players have to take responsibility." concluded Tamim.