T20 WC: Bangladesh pacer reveals missing team bus not real reason for being dropped vs India

Bangladesh pacer Taskin Ahmed revealed that he wasn't dropped for the T20 World Cup Super 8 clash versus India for missing the team bus. Bangladesh locked horns with India in a must-win game, at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua, on June 22 and in-form pacer Taskin wasn't named in the playing XI. This raised eyebrows as he had accounted for seven wickets, from five games, till then in the mega event, held in the West Indies and the USA. Later, it was reported that he missed the team bus and, hence, wasn't named in the XI. Now, Taskin has revealed the real reason for missing the all-important game in the just-concluded marquee tournament, eventually won by India.

Taskin admitted that he did miss the bus, however, arrived at the ground before the toss. In addition, he mentioned that he was anyway not going to play as he didn’t fit in the Najmul Shanto-led team combination. The Bangla Tigers replaced him with wicketkeeper-batter Jaker Ali.

Taskin told Dhaka-based newspaper Ajker Patrika, "I was a little late, but I reached at the ground before the toss. I arrived at the ground around 30-40 minutes before the toss. I missed the team bus. The bus left the hotel at 8.35am. I left for the ground at 8.43am. I almost reached the ground with the bus. It is not as if they didn't pick me because I arrived late. I wasn't going to play anyway."

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Dropping Taskin led to Bangladesh team management's widespread criticism. They lost the India clash by 50 runs and moved closer to elimination even before their last game in the Super 8s, where they faced Afghanistan. Taskin returned for the Afghanistan face-off and ended the tournament with eight scalps, however, Bangladesh lost that game too (earlier also losing to Australia in the Super 8s) andbowed out of the 20-nation event.

All-rounder Shakib Al-Hasan also opened up on Taskin missing the India game. He was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo, "West Indies is a difficult place for transport. He arrived 5-10 minutes before the toss, so naturally it was difficult for the team management to select him. It was also a difficult situation for the player. Taskin apologised to the team, and everyone took it very normally. It was an unintentional mistake. It ended there."