'Time to take hard decisions' - Vijay Dahiya as Bangladesh crash out of Asia Cup 2022

First a series loss against Zimbabwe and then getting knocked out of the Asia Cup after two back-to-back losses, nothing is going right for Bangladesh at the moment. They changed the captain, brought new faces in the team management, but the results have not gone their way. In their tournament opener against Afghanistan, the batting collapsed while in the second match against Sri Lanka, the bowlers bottled in what was thought to be a match for Bangladesh to lose. 

The Tigers won the U19 World Cup in 2020 but the youngsters hardly got an opportunity to express themselves on the big stage. Former India cricketer Vijay Dahiya spoke on how things need to change and how Bangladesh needs to make some bold decisions to bring the glory days back. 

“It’s time to take hard decisions. If you can’t change the outcome, change the team at least. Mosaddek Hossain played well tonight and he is the vice-captain of the side at the age of 22. So, you must have thought something about it. I think it’s high time to bring a change and the supporters will want that as well in my opinion," Dahiya said while speaking on BatBricks7 presents' Run Ki Runneeti' on CricTracker.

Elaborating further on the inclusion of young talents in the squad, Dahiya said, “I am not ready to believe that there’s no talented youngster in Bangladesh. Just two years ago they won the U19 World Cup. So, there must be a process going on and those players should be given confidence. A new era needs to start in Bangladesh cricket. Some new faces need to be introduced.”

We aren't bowling well in the death: Shakib Al Hasan

Despite a good start and bowling well in the initial phase against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh failed to capitalise when the pressure was building and even wickets at regular intervals could not help the Bangla Tigers to keep Sri Lanka under control. On top of that, Bangladesh bowled too many extras that hurt them in the end,

“We aren’t bowling well in the death,” said Shakib in the post-match conference. When asked about a spinner bowling the final over of the match, he said, “We wanted to pick wickets early, but the bowlers couldn't execute their plans and that's why the spinner bowled the last over.”

Eventually, Bangladesh lost the match by two wickets and will have to go back home. They’ll next play a tri-series against Pakistan and New Zealand in October.