‘Paid the price for the last four overs’

Tigers were blown away by Afghanistan in the first of the three-match T20I series in Dehradun India courtesy of a good team performance by the Afghans. Shakib felt that Afghanistan were better in all three departments but also said that Tigers paid the price for conceding too many in the final four overs.

Afghanistan batsmen looked solid at the start of their innings, playing positive shots along the ground and taking calculated risks when necessary. A 62-run opening stand between Mohammad Shahzad and Usman Ghani laid the foundation and while the Tigers' pacers were punished, it was again the spinners, who managed to hold the Afghans back after a solid start. Tigers had pulled things back with Mahmudullah Riyad taking two wickets in the 14th over -- having Najibullah Zadran caught and bowling Mohammad Nabi -- to have Afghanistan on 91 for four.

Speaking about where why Riyad was not given the ball in the death overs, Shakib said in post-match presentation ceremony that "It's a tough decision (not to hand Riyad the ball). If I had given him one more over and he had gone for a few sixers, you would have asked me why I gave him the ball and not the regular bowlers."

The pacers were taken apart as Afghans mauled the Tigers bowling in the death overs to pick up 62 runs in the last four. Skipper Shakib Al Hasan that Tigers bowled well overall but paid the price in the last four overs.

"We bowled well but the last four overs were different and we paid the price for that. It's not a good scenario to concede more than 60 in four overs. They had lost four wickets before the score reached 100."

Shakib felt that some blame needed to be apportioned on the batsmen as well for the loss. "When you're chasing 170-odd, you need to bat well, top order batsmen need to bat through, but we kept on losing wickets. Credit to them. They have quality spinners and they stepped it up," he pointed out.

Shakib had previously suggested that Afghanistan were favourites in the series due to their position in the ICC T20 rankings.

Going by what went down yesterday, Afghans really justified sitting two places above Bangladesh in the rankings.