I would ask Rubel to bowl again in 19th over: Shakib

Not wanting to "cry about" their heart-wrenching four-wicket defeat to India in the final of the Nidahas Trophy Twenty20 International (T20) tri-series, Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan said he would give the ball to Rubel Hossain again despite the pacer going for 22 runs in the 19th over.

Wicketkeeper batsman Dinesh Karthik (29 runs off eight balls) played a brilliant cameo towards the end, hitting a six off the last ball to win the final for India, who chased down Bangladesh's 166/8.

Karthik came in to bat with the scoreboard reading 133/5 at the end of 18 overs. He announced his arrival at the crease by smoking two sixes and a four off the first three balls from Rubel. In the next three deliveries, Karthik accumulated six runs which left India needing 12 off the last over.

The drama further unfolded when India needed five runs from the last ball. Kathik slammed a flat six over extra cover off Soumya Sarkar to clinch the issue.

But Shakib said he bowled to the plan and such batting by Karthik is rare.

"To be honest he did not miss much of the plan when he bowled. I don't know if there are many batsmen who can come and hit a six off the first ball, the next for a four and then again a six," Shakib was quoted as saying by The Daily Star.

"Such batting is rare in history, it was miraculous batting. But he (Karthik) did that. Of course Rubel was nervous after giving away 10 runs from the first two balls and that is natural. But still I think I will back him if there is a similar situation in the future," Shakib added.

Shakib, normally one of the toughest characters around, was asked how difficult it was to hide his emotions after the gut-wrenching defeat.

"I actually don't know… There is no point crying about it. Yes, there can be emotions attached to such occasions but there isn't anything to do here.

"It's not possible to rewind time, so we have to do better when there is a similar situation again. We have lost many close games and finals.

"This was the fifth one (final) and all of them were close matches. The closest I think was the Asia Cup and then today's one (Sunday)… I think this was even closer (than the Asia Cup). I think we are moving forward," Shakib said with a smile on his face.

Bangladesh lost their fifth consecutive final in a multi-nation tournament.

The Nidahas Trophy was overall a magnificent tournament for them. They registered a record chase of 215 runs against Sri Lanka followed by a brilliant win to reach the final.

When asked about the positives from the tournament, Shakib said: "I do not see many negatives. We won two matches and could have won another two. But we missed those very narrowly.

"We can do a lot better if we can improve on the small margins. And this can be the start of a new chapter for us."

--IANS

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