Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has revealed that Bangladesh were motivated to win the five-match T20I series against Australia because they usually don’t play on a regular basis.
Bangladesh defeated Australia 4-1 in the five-match T20I series that was concluded on Monday. Australia were bundled out for 62 runs in the final T20I where Bangladesh star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan picked four wickets for just 9 runs in his four overs quota.
“There is always a motivation when you play the bigger teams — normally those which don’t visit our country that often,” Shakib said.
“Also, we had a really good series in Zimbabwe and so everyone was pretty motivated to do well in this series as well. We had never won a series against Australia, and so this was our chance. Hence, we wanted to deliver well as a unit, which is what happened,” Shakib was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
“Any such achievement obviously feels good. This kind of personal achievement inspires you to do well for your side… I am really happy, and I feel I will be able to contribute for many more days and would be striving for that.”
On the low scores in the series, Shakib said, “We could have perhaps scored 10 or 15 more runs in every match, since we were in situations where doing it was possible. But the wickets were so difficult [to bat on] that it was always tough for a new batsman [to play]. So it would be unfair to judge someone on the basis of just one series because the conditions were really tough for the batsmen.”