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ICC CRICKET WORLD CUPJuly 2, 2019Steve RhodesBirmingham, England, UK India - 314/9 (50), Bangladesh - 286 (48) Q. Coach, it wasn't to be. Quite a marginal sort of thing with the ball and bat. Where do you think Bangladesh came up short? STEVE RHODES: First of all, there's a lot of disappointed cricketers in the changing room and coaches. In fact, all the members of staff as well. We're desperate to do well in this competition and try and take it further. Ultimately, today wasn't to be. We played against a good team, a side that are, I think, currently ranked Number 1 in the world. We pushed through, but I think we made some early mistakes, and I think you need to get out of the blocks really well against a team like India, and we were playing catch-up for a lot of that match. We were playing catch-up. We gave them a bit of a shock, but ultimately it was too hard work at the end. Q. Coach, you know, restraining India to 314 considering the way they were going at some point in the middle overs, you think you did very well to restrain somebody like an MS Dhoni, who's a very, very accomplished finisher? STEVE RHODES: Yeah, I thought we did fantastically well after that opening blitz by Rohit. We were very, very happy at the halfway stage only to be chasing that score. You know, it could well have been 370, 380, even 400 at one stage. So we were delighted that we showed a lot of spirit and a lot of fight to come back, but ultimately it was that real start that, if we'd have just started a little bit better -- to beat India, you've got to play at your best, and we weren't there in that first hour. But it was pleasing to see some fight. I think it's a reflection of the team. We've only picked up the three victories, but we've pushed a lot of these big teams throughout the competition, and with a little bit of luck, we may well have been one of these top four. Q. Coach, can you tell us a bit about Saifuddin? Especially when he came up to bat, he had very impressive innings. In future, do you see him moving up the order and becoming a front line all-rounder? STEVE RHODES: I think we've got to be very careful because this is what tends to happen. People get runs down the order, and everybody starts talking about them going up the order. Actually, in the modern game, you need guys that are coming in at Number 8, 9, 10, and even 11, who can win games for you with the bat. So you start putting them too high, and you start having a problem in your Number 8, 9, 10, 11 position. So the answer to your question is he played really well at Number 8. I think he's a terrific number 8. He's Bangladesh's Number 8. If he goes in at Number 8, we're in a good position. We also need numbers 9, 10, and 11 to score runs as well. Ultimately, it's a team game. We've got batters to score runs. We've got all-rounders to score runs. And I think the best teams can manage to do that. Q. Coach, for the major part of the run chase, Bangladesh were in the game despite wickets falling at regular intervals. Do you think the softest missiles in the end made the difference? STEVE RHODES: Yeah, I think, in the defence of some of the batsmen, the toss was crucial. You saw there, as you saw in the England match, that the cutters and the slower balls were quite difficult. When you get out to a slower ball and you chip it up into the ring, it looks a really soft dismissal, but sometimes you've got to give credit for the bowlers for deceiving the batsman and also sometimes the wicket. The wicket obviously proved to be a little bit more difficult in the second innings. I think the toss was probably worth 20 or 30 runs, and maybe 29 runs would have been an even game. Q. Coach, I want to ask something which was not from this match. There was a lot of talk about the format, the new format that we are having this time. Earlier we saw in the previous editions a lot of one-sided matches, meaningless matches. This time with just a handful of games remaining, the last four are still not identified. Do you think this format is more entertaining for the fans and for the players? STEVE RHODES: Well, I think there's been some great games of cricket in this competition, and I've really enjoyed this format. I actually thought, when I looked at the format before we got here, I thought there would be a few dead rubbers that would mean some -- I wouldn't say boring cricket, but less exciting games, as there has been towards the end. It seems as though the top teams who may be qualifying played maybe some easier games earlier in the competition, almost like it was seeded. I'm sure that wasn't the case. But, no, I think it's been a very good format. I think it gives everybody a chance to beat each other. You play each other just the once. So I've really enjoyed the format. I wish luck to the guys who were in that semifinal. I wish it was us, but I'm very proud of the way we've played against a lot of the big teams, and I think that maybe we'll be the people's team for the amount of fight that we've shown against some of these big teams. So I am very proud. Q. Coach, after, post-World Cup, a fresh start needs to be made. The captain has said he would love to continue for a bit more time. So do you think that lessens the chance of including at least one impact bowler in the side, preferably a young bowler, looking at the future? How do you look at it? STEVE RHODES: First, this situation with the board and all this talk that's been going on for the last two weeks or so, that really is questions for the board and questions for Mash to answer. I can't really answer that. We've also got to have a bowler good enough, capable enough to actually replace Mash. Everybody forgets that. We haven't got too many of the taller, quicker bowlers, which is what we're trying to get into test matches. As soon as we find them and as soon as they're starting to do well, I'm sure that we'll be wanting to get them in the team. But as far as the first question, really, it's a very difficult question for me to answer, and I don't really want to get involved in that, if that's okay. Q. Coach, how do you rate Tamim Iqbal's performance in this World Cup? Do you think he was a little bit unlucky on many occasions? STEVE RHODES: Well, I would say wholehearted has been his performances. He would have loved to have scored more runs because he's got a lot of pride in the amount of runs he scored, but he's been very wholehearted and tried his very, very best. Sometimes it's not to be. You know, he played some great shots today. I thought today was going to be the day, but sadly, it wasn't to be. And that's cricket. Sometimes the harder you try, the worse it gets. Certainly, as far as his efforts for Bangladesh are concerned, in trying to contribute, trying to get some match-winning innings, then sadly it hasn't happened, but he's tried his very, very best, and I'm sure on another World Cup, because he's young enough to be there in four years time, maybe India's World Cup, that time around. Q. Coach, taking ahead the Mashrafe question, I'd like to ask, it's often said the captain leads from the front, but today right through the tournament, as well as today, we saw that, after bowling the first over, he had to actually pull himself back. Does it really get a little disappointing when the captain isn't performing at the level that he has in the past? STEVE RHODES: Well, I'm sure Mash would be a little disappointed with that first over, but I actually thought it was a very brave decision to do to check himself off. Sometimes as a captain, when somebody has a bad over, it's still a brave decision to take them off. To take yourself off is even braver, I felt, especially as the first over of the game. But he did come back, and he did come back better. So he did show that he was clawing his way back. Mash is a very proud person, and I'm sure Mash will look at his performances so far and wish they were a little bit better, but having said that -- and it's important that you do quote this second part as well -- is that he's tried his hardest all the way through. The one thing about Mash is that he tries every single ball. He doesn't know any other way. He's had seven knee operations, and he's had a fantastic, wonderful career of over 200 ODIs, and he has not stopped trying throughout all of those ODIs, I know that. Q. Rohit Sharma has made a bit of a habit of punishing sides when they drop him early. When that happened, when Tamim dropped him, did you fear it might be as costly as it ended up being? STEVE RHODES: I've watched a lot of cricket over the years and played a lot of cricket, and you know that any drop can be costly. I didn't know how costly it would be. I was hoping he'd hit another one up in the air a little bit sooner, but I know exactly what you're angling towards. Rohit Sharma, what a wonderful batsman he is in world cricket. You give guys like him a chance or Kohli a chance, and you may well pay the price. Again, the person who dropped it was Tamim, and he's got one of our -- he's developed into one of our safer pair of hands in the outfield, so it was a little bit of a surprise, but he's human, and we're all human. I've dropped lots of catches in my life. I think everybody who's played the game has dropped catches, but sometimes they can be very, very costly, and that one proved to be. Q. Coach, Tamim Iqbal got in three times (batting in eight innings) in this tournament. Do you think his problem was more of a technical or is it just his mental adjustment? STEVE RHODES: I don't think it was necessarily a technical matter. This slowish type of wicket, especially with coaches being bold, sometimes when you're angling the ball a little bit with a 45 degree bat, it can be a little bit dangerous. Mosaddek did one as well when he got out, but I think on other day -- I can't remember who they played, but Rohit Sharma had one for his missed leg stump in his first ball he faced, and he went on to get 100. Sometimes you have a bit of a look, it misses the stumps, and sometimes it doesn't. We shouldn't really start castigating or have a go at Tamim. He's a wonderful player. He played some great shots today, and if you know anything about batting, it takes one ball to get you out, and it might take one half mistake and you're a goner. It's a tough job for a batsman. The bowler does get a few more chances in the over to come back, and the batsman doesn't. Q. Coach, the bowling, in every game almost, went for about 300. You ended up chasing big scores every time. Do you think that's a huge area of concern going forward for Bangladesh cricket? That you need to develop discovered bowlers who are able to restrict sides or bowl them out? STEVE RHODES: I think you're right about the scores, but our makeup of the team tends to be about keeping control if we can and trying to frustrate the opposition into getting those wickets. Other teams have got different types of bowlers. They can be quite aggressive bowlers. You've seen the likes of Ferguson bowling, good heat and good speed. You've seen Archer bowling with good speed. You've seen the wrist spinners who really do attack as well and take wickets. Though we have variety, we're a little more of a controlling bowling group, and our way to take wickets is to control, which is why really that first 10, 12 overs was a bit disappointing because the way we will get wickets in the power play is stopping the opposition scoring and then going for it. So it was a little bit disappointing to be a little bit sloppy in that first sort of hour. Q. Coach, considering that you chased 323 in 41 overs very successfully against an aggressive West Indian bowling, what did you make of the 315 chase? What stage did you feel -- how optimistic were you at the beginning of the innings, and what time did you feel it's up? It's beyond your -- STEVE RHODES: Going back to Taunton, it was an absolute belter of a wicket and a very fast outfield. Once the two guys got in, Liton Das and Shakib, then it was very difficult controlling them. This was a little bit different. Without being rude to the West Indies, there's more variety from India, and the way they bowl their cutters and slower balls and yorkers was excellent today, so the task was far more difficult. So I'm still very proud of the way we fought all the way to the end, but it was an easier task simply because the wicket, the conditions at Taunton were far different to here, and certainly easier for batting if the batsmen got in. Q. And today at what stage did you give up? STEVE RHODES: Look, I never give up. I don't think anybody should ever give up in a competitive sport or in any sport. No, I think that losing some of the top order, if they'd have gone on and just made a few more runs here and there, I felt that we could have got there with the likes of Sabbir and Saifuddin down the order and Mash with a few runs, but we were probably just a little too far out. And you've got the quality of someone like Bumrah coming in and bowling how he can towards guys who are maybe lesser batsmen, and maybe that's the only reason possibly, when it seemed you looked at Sabbir getting out, and I thought, are we going to be able to do it now? But Saifuddin put up a really good show for us, and he fought hard all the way to the end. Q. Coach, next up is Pakistan. Pakistan were hoping for a favor from India that they would beat England to reach the semifinals, to help them reach the semifinals. Now Pakistan did have a chance to reach the semifinals if they win the game against Bangladesh, and they again would be looking for favors, but, of course, matches can be like that. STEVE RHODES: The Pakistan game on Friday, I'm really looking forward to that game. I think we beat them in the Asia Cup, and they'll want to change that. We showed in some of the games we played this year, that we're going to be a difficult side for Pakistan to beat. We know we'll have to play well again because they've run into a little bit of form in the back ends of the tournament. But we're confident. We don't want to leave these shores with a defeat against Pakistan. We want to leave these shores with a victory against Pakistan. So as far as we'll go about it, hopefully very professional, and we'll fight really, really hard. We'll be desperate to get points against Pakistan. Q. Coach, talking about Sharma, Liton, Sabbir, and Mosaddek, there must have been some expectations for them. Two parts of the question. How well have they done in your eyes? As a coach to young batsmen, how much have you contributed to whatever they have done in the last sort of 18 months, 12 months? STEVE RHODES: Yeah, I think we also must add Mustafizur into that. He had five wickets today as well. And mow Mehedi hasn't played today, but he's contributed in this World Cup. And also Mosaddek. You might have mentioned Mosaddek. One of the things we are starting to see is some of these guys -- I call them medium sort of players. You've got guys who are very experienced and have been here a while, and you've got your medium and maybe the junior type players. These guys are now showing they can contribute regularly in international cricket. That's pleasing for me. I'm not going to take credit for that. I think the players themselves have worked really, really hard. All our coaches have worked hard with them. One thing I will say is we've been trying to give these guys responsibility to improve. What we've been trying to do is let them make the decisions rather than tell them what to do all the time. That way they learn quicker, and I think that they feel as though they can be responsible now, and I think that that may well have helped in their development. I know for a long time in Bangladesh we've been wanting these guys to develop, and I think we're starting to see that now because we're giving them the opportunity to develop. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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