Netherlands defeat is hard to swallow and very difficult to digest: Shakib Al Hasan

Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh Skipper stated that his side's defeat against the Netherlands is 'very difficult to digest.' Bangladesh suffered their fifth consecutive defeat in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup after being thrashed by the Netherlands by 87 runs at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Batting second Bangladesh crumbled at 142 in 42.2 overs while chasing a 230-run target. No other batter except Mehidy Hasan scored more than 30 runs during the run chase. Bangladesh are in ninth position, in the ten-team table and it seems their campaign is almost over.

When asked if the ongoing tournament was Bangladesh's worst ODI World Cup campaign, Shakib stated it was without any doubt. The 36-year-old added that he has no idea about the team's dismal performance, pointing out that they have been brilliant with the ball so far in the tournament despite not making a huge impact with the bat. He added that the defeat against the Dutch team was "very difficult to digest."

"You can say that [it is Bangladesh's worst World Cup performance] without any doubt. I don't have an answer as to why we played this way. We were sloppy in the field. We bowled brilliantly. We haven't batted the way we can bat throughout the tournament. It is a big concern. Today was another day when we totally gave the Dutch the two points. It is hard to swallow. It is very difficult to digest. These things can happen in cricket," Shakib said after the match as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

He went on to say that only Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah were batting well so far in the competition. He also stated that Mahmudullah could have been given a higher position in the line-up which would have helped them in the tournament.

"As a batting unit, if you ask me to summarise our six matches, I would say that we were very poor. Other than Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim, all other batters were not up to the mark. If our batters did well at the top, Riyad [Mahmudullah] and Mushfiq could have performed their roles. I agree with you that maybe if Riyad bhai batted higher in the order, we could have done well. Other than that, we have all been disappointing," he added.