'I was not prepared for captaincy' - Shakib Al Hasan

Shakib Al Hasan has expressed unhappiness at having the Bangladesh captaincy thrust upon him, and at not being given a free hand with selection following the nine-run defeat in the first one-dayer against Zimbabwe in Mirpur. Shakib, who had earlier turned down leadership of the side, was forced to take over from Mashrafe Mortaza when the seamer injured himself at the start of the New Zealand series. Shakib impressed, both as captain and player, as Bangladesh won that series 4-0. Despite Mortaza's return, he was asked to continue as captain for the Zimbabwe one-dayers.

"I was not prepared to take the job [captaincy]," Shakib said after the defeat. "And I am also not satisfied with my role as a captain. The reasons are numerous, and I cannot detail all of them right at the moment."

Bangladesh's problems against Zimbabwe began when their seam attack, led by Mortaza, allowed the visitors to get off to a strong start despite conditions that aided the new ball. Their fielding was also substandard, with the Zimbabwe openers surviving several run-out opportunities. Bangladesh's spinners then brought their side back into the game, dismissing Zimbabwe for 209, but the batsmen - barring Shakib who top-scored with 63 - collapsed in a rash of poor strokes and run-outs.

Shakib hinted that he was saddled with a XI that he did not completely agree with. "The captain should have a clearly defined role, but anyway I don't want to talk about the team. What I can say is that I gave my 100 % as a captain in the field.

"Fielding-wise we could not expect more from this team because we had two good fielders in Raqibul Hasan and Naeem Islam out of the team. Those who were in the team are not capable. Actually we can't expect more from this team as they did what they are capable of."

Raqibul played in the New Zealand series, but made way for Mohammad Ashraful who was given yet another opportunity to revive his flagging international career. Ashraful was a part of the batting failure in Mirpur, a recurring problem that Shakib felt had bogged the team down even in the New Zealand series.

"Ordinary batting was the main reason [for the defeat]. The simple thing is we didn't bat well though the wicket was really good for batting in the second innings. In the end, one can lose the match but the fact was that we played poor cricket today.

"We didn't bat well against New Zealand too and it's really worrying that we have batted badly five matches in a row. We will lose more matches if we play like this."