BAN vs SL: Najmul Hossain Shanto has ‘no excuses’ after crushing defeat

Sri Lanka crushed Bangladesh to win the first Test by 328 runs at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium. The hosts failed to live up to their potential with the bat, which led to a humbling defeat on their home turf. After doing well against New Zealand earlier in the year, Bangladesh were expected to put on a strong performance, however, the Najmul Hossain Shanto-led side struggled in all four innings, leading to a massive defeat.

Speaking about the same after the match, the skipper stated that the top order failed to get going, which led to their defeat. However, he doesn’t want to give any sort of excuse and added that the players need to improve and play a better standard of cricket to produce a desirable result in the second and final Test in Chattogram.

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“Whatever the margin, a loss is a loss. In both innings, the top-order didn't score runs. Not just us, both team's top-order struggled. But we don't want to use that as an excuse. We need to work on how we can improve from here,” Shanto was quoted as saying by The Daily Star.

“After the New Zealand match, we were hearing that we have improved a lot, we have done well a lot of things have changed for the better. Even many members of the media had said so. So, we can't say that there has been no change. You can say that things haven't changed as much as it should've. We need to improve much more from now on,” he added.

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Notably, batting first, the Lankan Lions struggled but courtesy of twin centuries from Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis, the visitors posted 280 runs on the board. In reply, Bangladesh could manage only 188 runs on the board. In the third innings, the visitors extended their lead, as skipper Dhananjaya and Mendis once again hit a century each. They posted 418 runs in the process and in reply, Bangladesh could score only 182 runs.