Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan said that the win against Oman will bring some stability in the national dressing room as they are now much more relieved than before.

Bangladesh lost the opening game against Scotland and had to earn a win against Oman in the qualifier in order to keep their hopes alive in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Bangladesh were challenged by the co-hosts as they were in the game for most part before losing their way largely due to their inexperience as they failed to recuperate after losing a couple of wickets.

Shakib and Mustafizur Rahman shared seven wickets between them but it was Saifuddin and Mahedi Hasan’s economical bowling that brought them back into the game to help them avoid further embarrassment.

“I think the bowling of Saifuddin and Mahedi was the turning point as they probably had given less than 30 runs to bring us back in the game,” said Shakib, who earned the man of the match on the back of his all-round performance.

“I think the win is certainly relieving and I feel the atmosphere in the dressing room will be better after this win,” he said adding that he is not too sure why there is so much fuss after losing to an associate country.

“I think the loss against Scotland was disappointing and we must credit them while even today we had to work hard to earn the win against Oman.

“Look we must credit the associate countries as they play despite all the hurdles and they are playing good cricket so I feel they deserve all the credit. In T20 format there is no favourite as everyone have to play well and as this is a short format only one or two players can change the momentum or have a huge impact behind a win.”

Shakib added that their batting unit can improve in certain areas which will in return help the team. “There is room for improvement in the batting as we have scored 150 runs and we can add 20 to 25 runs to it. If we can add 15 runs in the power play and 10 runs at the end it can be done and we are capable of it,” he pointed out.

“If we can score 170 runs with the bowling attack we can fight against any team and we need this improvement,” he said adding that it was difficult to hold onto catches in Oman.

“Holding a catch at night is difficult because the light is low and when the ball goes over the light it becomes difficult to keep an eye on the ball and there is another thing that the ball seems to travel fast. We cannot give excuse as we have done enough training here so we should be used to it,” he said.

Shakib added that they are still hopeful to leave a mark in the tournament with the team at the moment just focusing on the PNG game. The veteran believes a comfortable win over the associate side will help them seal their passage into the next round.

“I feel if we can beat PNG we will be through and after that we can say what we want to do next but first we have to qualify,” said Shakib.

“When we left the country we dreamt of achieving something big and we still hold on to that dream. If we had said that we have come here to lose every match would you have taken that well? Dreams cannot be changed every now and then.”