Shanto admits WTC final hopes are fading

Bangladesh’s hopes of reaching the ICC World Test Championship final have suffered a major setback after their eight-wicket defeat to West Indies in the first Test. Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto has admitted that making the final has now become a difficult prospect.

Bangladesh had been targeting at least four victories from their remaining six matches across three series to keep their final hopes alive, while also depending on other teams’ results. But the defeat at home has made that task considerably harder.

The loss also pushed Tigers down from fourth to fifth in the WTC standings, with India moving up from on place to fourth.

“Honestly, playing in the final is now very difficult,” Shanto said on Saturday.

His side had set West Indies a target of just 170 in the fourth innings. Given the condition of the pitch, the hosts believed the total was enough to put the visitors under pressure. However, their bowlers managed only two wickets.

The Tigers' skipper was disappointed with the bowling effort, saying Bangladesh could have defended the target with a better performance.

“Considering the condition of the pitch, even after scoring 170, we believed we could defend it. Unfortunately, that did not happen. We could have bowled a little better on this surface. Our bowlers were a bit inconsistent with their lengths. Otherwise, they would not have been able to bat so comfortably,” he said.

He felt the bowling failure hurt the team more than the modest target.

“Even if we had lost after taking seven or eight wickets, I might have felt that we had not scored enough runs. But I think our bowling was a bit wayward,” he said.

Shanto believes Bangladesh lost control of the match in the first innings. The hosts had finished the opening day at 213-3 and appeared well placed, but were eventually bowled out for 272.

Given the nature of the pitch, he felt Bangladesh should have built a bigger first-innings total.

“Considering how the wicket was playing and the position we were in at the end of the first day, we should have been in a much better position. We knew batting would become difficult later. If we had built a bigger lead, the game could have been different,” he said.

The left-hander also blamed Bangladesh’s poor batting, rather than the quality of West Indies left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican, for the first-innings collapse.

“Warrican bowled well, but I think our batting was worse than his bowling,” he said.

The captain also admitted that he should have made a bigger contribution with the bat. As a senior batter, he felt he had a greater responsibility to deliver a substantial innings.

“As a senior batter, I should have taken more responsibility. I have been playing for a long time and know these conditions well. If I could have scored a big hundred, perhaps our total could have been 370 instead of 270,” he said.

West Indies also benefited from five umpire’s-call decisions in the fourth innings, a source of frustration for Bangladesh. However, Shanto refused to blame the officials, insisting that such decisions were part of the game.

“When you set the opposition a target of 170, you would expect at least three of those five umpire’s calls to go your way. Unfortunately, that did not happen today. It is part of the game, and you cannot blame the umpires. We have to accept that it was not our day,” he said.

“However, I would be lying if I said it was not frustrating when it happens so many times.”