‘Not one you wake up dreaming to bat on’: Hope on Mirpur wicket
West Indies skipper Shai Hope on Saturday admitted that the lack of adaptability from their batters cost them the opening ODI of the three-match series against hosts Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Saturday.
After bowling out the hosts for 207 runs in 49.4 overs, West Indies openers Brandon King (44) and Alick Athanaze (27) gave the visitors a solid start as the pair put up a 51-run stand in just 12 overs.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. However, following the departure of Athanaze, who was trapped in front by leg-spinner Rishad Hossain, West Indies lost their way in the run chase.
The visitors lost their remaining nine wickets for just 54 runs to get bundled out for just 133 runs in 39 overs, suffering a massive 74-run defeat in the opening game to go 1-0 down in the series.
"It was a more spin-friendly surface and our batters didn't really adapt as well as we wanted to in that situation," Hope told reporters after the match.
"But having said that, still I must give credit to the two openers for the start that we had. There's a lot of learnings to come from this particular game here. But like I said, it was a tough surface to bat on and it was more spin-friendly," he said, crediting Rishad for his brilliant performance.
Rishad was the chief architect of Bangladesh's victory as he claimed 6-35 – finishing with the best bowling performance by a Bangladeshi spinner in this format. Among his six wickets, five were from the top six of the Caribbean lineup.
"Rishad, I could say he hit very good lines and length, made it tough for our batters to play," he said, adding that it's not a wicket batters dream of batting on.
"I'll just say it was a challenging surface. It's one that as a batter it's not one you wake up in morning and dream about batting on. That's all I can say.
"But credit must be given to their bowlers for exploiting the conditions a lot more than ours. Just one of those days where their spinners, I would say, outplayed our spinners and their batters did the same with our batters."
Hope also heaped praises on the Bangladeshi batters who read the wicket better.
"It's one of those pitches where you never feel you're in as a batter. It was tough for both teams. I don't think the surface changed at all. It's just the consistency with line and length that the Bangladeshi spinners made it a lot more challenging for us.
"So, we just need to take the learnings from this game and find ways as batters to not let it settle… just got to put this game behind us and then come a lot stronger for the second one," he concluded.
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