'Shouldn't have played that shot'

Wickets thrown away, catches dropped, runs leaked at an uncomfortably quick rate, yesterday just wasn't Bangladesh's day. The Tigers experienced their first bad day of the tour at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in Khulna yesterday and the disappointment showed.

Test debutant Soumya Sarkar, following a torrid day on the field yesterday, described the hosts' performance as 'poor'. The batsman, who lost his wicket after a quick 30-odd, was cross with the way he began his Test career.

"We had a poor day. We lost six wickets. We couldn't bowl in the right areas and missed chances while fielding as well. [Mohammad] Hafeez was playing really well too," said a disappointed Soumya at the post-day press conference.

"They have been bowling well since the first day. They were bowling in very good areas. Sometimes they didn't bowl even one bad ball in an over. We made some small mistakes which cost us the wickets," he added.

While Soumya believes that the hosts can make a comeback on day 3, the ease with which the visitors batted yesterday signalled a bad omen for Bangladesh's bowlers. Hafeez, who scored a century yesterday, doesn't seem like he is in a mood to stop. In addition, Pakistan's most experienced batsmen, Misbahul Haq and Younis Khan, are yet to arrive at the crease.

The left-hander however, believed that the hosts could still win it from here.

"The game will return to us if we bowl the right way. We will play to win," said Soumya. "We are waiting for one good session to come back to the game. If we can do that tomorrow morning, the momentum will swing back towards us," he added. 

Playing his first match, Soumya admitted that he was bit nervous when his turn arrived.

"I was very excited before I went to bat today. But there was a change when I went to the middle. I wanted to play according to how I usually play. I wasn't focusing on who I was playing against and the circumstances of my debut.

"I shouldn't have played that shot at that time. I thought it was a bad shot after I had played it, may be I shouldn't have played the shot. I don't want to repeat the same mistakes," explained the youngsters.

"I saw everything was different after I took the field. I realised it was my debut Test. I was quite nervous playing the first ball, and also the second ball. I got free from the third ball. Mushfiq[ur Rahim] bhai told me to play normally," he added.