Bangladesh captain Shakib stumped by ‘worst’ World Cup display

Bangladesh's Taskin Ahmed, left, congratulates Netherlands' Paul Van Meekeren after Netherlands won the match during the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup match in Kolkata, India, Saturday, October 28, 2023. (AP)
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Updated 29 October 2023
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Bangladesh captain Shakib stumped by ‘worst’ World Cup display

  • Bangladesh have lost five matches of this year’s World Cup on the trot after winning their opening match
  • On Saturday, Shakib Al Hasan’s side slumped to an 87-run defeat against the Netherlands in Kolkata

KOLKATA: Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan said his team’s 87-run loss to the Netherlands in Kolkata on Saturday was their worst-ever World Cup performance.

After starting the tournament with a win against Afghanistan, Bangladesh slumped to a fifth successive defeat against the Dutch.

“I don’t have an answer,” said a visibly upset Shakib. “You can say that this is our worst, without any doubt. I don’t have an answer to why we played this way.”

Bangladesh had the Netherlands in trouble at 63-4 but paid the price for dropping skipper Scott Edwards twice in three balls when he was on nought. Edwards went on to finish as top scorer with 68.

Chasing a modest 230-run target, Bangladesh folded for just 142 in 42.2 overs against some accurate Dutch bowling led by Paul van Meekeren (4-23) and Bas de Leede (2-25).

Bangladesh are ninth in the 10-team table with games remaining against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia.

“I don’t want to blame anyone. We are a better team than our performance. We were disappointing in this tournament, something that the whole dressing room would agree,” said Shakib.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” he added. “As a batting unit, if you ask me to summarise our six matches with the bat. We were very poor other than Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim.”

Mahmudullah hit a century in a lost cause against South Africa in Mumbai while Mushfiqur has scored two fifties in the tournament.

Shakib has been a shadow of himself, managing just 65 runs in five matches after notching 606 runs in the 2019 World Cup.

“All other batters were not up to the mark. I thought we were well short of confidence in both batting and bowling,” said Shakib.

“We couldn’t meet up with our high expectations. I thought we bowled really well after losing the toss but we were sloppy in the field.”

“We are not comfortable facing bowlers in certain times, so we have to adjust all the time. If our batters did well at the top, Riyad and Mushfiq could have performed their roles,” he added.


Kane scores as Bayern deliver comeback romp over Leipzig

Updated 17 January 2026
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Kane scores as Bayern deliver comeback romp over Leipzig

  • The victory restores Bayern’s 11-point lead atop the ladder over second-placed Borussia Dortmund
  • Leipzig took a first-half lead through Romulo, but Bayern kicked into gear after the break

LEIPZIG, Germany: Harry Kane scored his 21st goal of the Bundesliga season as Bayern Munich came from behind to win 5-1 at RB Leipzig on Saturday.
The victory restores Bayern’s 11-point lead atop the ladder over second-placed Borussia Dortmund, while continuing their record-breaking campaign.
Unbeaten Bayern have dropped just four points on their way to a record-equalling tally of 50 after 18 games. Bayern’s total of 71 goals scored is also a record at this stage of a German league season.
Leipzig took a first-half lead through Romulo, but Bayern kicked into gear after the break, Serge Gnabry, Kane, Jonathan Tah, Aleksandar Pavlovic and Michael Olize all scoring.
Bayern coach Vincent Kompany said Leipzig were “twice as good as we were” in the opening half, adding “but in the second-half — my god, the boys delivered.
“We weren’t afraid and we really went for it.”
Leipzig goalscorer Romulo said “we played 75 minutes really on top, then I don’t know what happened, we turned off our minds. We have to learn something out of that.”
Leipzig were strong early and broke through after 20 minutes when Romulo snuck past Bayern’s Tah to poke in an Antonio Nusa pass from close range.
The hosts were undone in the simplest fashion just after half-time. Dayot Upamecano picked Christoph Baumgartner’s pocket and fed Gnabry, who guided the ball into the bottom corner.
Bayern took the lead after 67 minutes, once again thanks to a Leipzig mistake.
Olize’s floated cross looked harmless until Ridle Baku lost his footing, allowing an unmarked Kane time and space to blast home.
With Leipzig’s resistance broken, Tah, Pavlovic and Olize all scored in the final 10 minutes, while Jamal Musiala returned late off the bench after a six-month injury absence.

- Can rescues Dortmund -
Earlier, an Emre Can penalty in the fifth minute of stoppage time saved Borussia Dortmund’s blushes in a 3-2 home win against lowly St. Pauli.
In the dying moments, VAR found a foul on Germany forward Maximilian Beier, bringing Dortmund captain Can to the spot.
“What a rollercoaster ride,” Can told Sky Germany.
“We need to do much better to settle things down and to convert our chances,” he added.
The hosts overcame a poor first half when Julian Brandt tapped in from close range just before the break. Having created the opener, Karim Adeyemi gave Dortmund a two-goal buffer in the 54th minute, converting a Fabio Silva assist.
Rock-bottom St. Pauli had won just once since September but fought back into the game when James Sands and Ricky-Jade Jones scored inside 10 minutes midway through the second half to stun the hosts.
Deep into stoppage time, Jones caught Beier on the edge of the penalty area, allowing Can to convert nervelessly from the spot.
Elsewhere, Hoffenheim’s Wouter Burger scored the only goal in a 1-0 home win over flailing Bayer Leverkusen to climb past Leipzig into third in the table.
Burger swung in an excellent free-kick after nine minutes to give the hosts the three points.
“That was an important one,” Burger said of his free-kick. “I was practicing them a bit this morning.”
Relegation candidates last season, Hoffenheim are on track to qualify for Europe’s top competition for just the second time in their history, having last done so under now-Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann in 2017/18.
Leverkusen have now lost four of their past six, falling three points behind the Champions League placings.
Cologne beat Mainz 2-1 at home, Wolfsburg played out a 1-1 home draw with Heidenheim and hosts Hamburg were held to a scoreless draw by Borussia Moenchengladbach.