The way Shanto played despite all the criticisms was out of the box: Sujon
"The way Shanto played despite all the criticisms was out of the box. He had tremendous pressure on himself and it was really difficult (to come out of that and perform). He has done it. I think Shanto will become one of the finest cricketers of Bangladesh cricket," Sujon said.
Bangladesh team director Khaled Mahmud Sujon believes Najmul Hossain Shanto has performed well in the T20 World Cup and he doesn't deserve the severe criticism he has been facing for a while.
Despite all the criticisms from the media and the fans, Shanto actually scored the most runs for Bangladesh in the tournament. He bagged 180 runs from the five innings, including two fifties, at an average of 36.00.
His strike rate (116.64) was not up to the mark, one could argue.
But it was his innings (77 off 55 balls) that helped Bangladesh post a decent total against Zimbabwe and eventually win the match.
The southpaw hit 20 boundaries and two maximums in the tournament. He took two catches as well.
"The way Shanto played despite all the criticisms was out of the box. He had tremendous pressure on himself and it was really difficult (to come out of that and perform). He has done it. I think Shanto will become one of the finest cricketers of Bangladesh cricket," Sujon said.
Sujon also said the Bangladesh team kept on improving and the Tigers did well enough in the tournament.
"There were improvements in each game. We had our chances to reach the semis, but somehow we couldn't. But I don't think we did badly at all," he added.