"Will love to finish 5-6 if not in the semis" Shakib Al Hasan after Bangladesh's dismissal performance against South Africa

Shakib Al Hasan and his team have lost their fourth consecutive game in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

After starting the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 with a comprehensive win over Afghanistan, Shakib Al Hasan and his team have suffered defeats in every game that they have played so far. On Tuesday, they suffered their fourth loss of the tournament at the hands of South Africa at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. South Africa thrashed them by a massive 149 runs.

With that loss, Bangladesh have now dropped to the last position on the points table with two points on the board. It hasn't been as great a performance for Bangladesh as they would have liked. Notably, Shakib Al Hasan said before that they were looking to book their place in the semi-finals, but it looks like Bangladesh skipper has taken a U-turn after a disappointing performance by his team.

"Will love to finish 5-6 if not in the semis"- Shakib Al Hasan after loss vs SA in Mumbai

Bangladesh have suffered against the bigger sides and have performed below-par, which is why they are virtually out of the race for the semi-finals. And the loss against South Africa have almost pushed them out of the competition. They have four games left now, and if they win all those matches, they will still reach 10 points, where the minimum required to qualify is 12.

After the defeat, Shakib Al Hasan highlighted that the bowlers did well for the first 25 overs but failed to control the run rate in the last 25 overs. South Africa added 144 runs in the last overs and reached 382/5. Shakib also pointed out that giving away so many runs in the final overs costed them the game.

On the other hand, he also said that if the team can't reach the finals, which is likely to happen, they would like to finish at 5 or 6. Shakib Al Hasan said, "There is a long way to go in this tournament; anything can happen. There's a lot to learn and a lot to play for. I would love to finish 5-6 if not in the semis. We're not playing like a team that can do it, but we hope to finish stronger."