Imam-ul-Haq: “I wouldn’t say one of my smooth innings. We thought it would be a good batting wicket, but there were some seams so we were surprised, but I worked on my back foot play against the spinners and I I’m happy with it. [On trying to score quicker for NRR] We talked about it and we had a plan. We thought we could just string together 36 overs and the intentions were clear on that. We thought we had our chance and we were lucky to close out the game as early as possible. [On the pacers] They are outstanding and I just want them to play that way for the next two months. »

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan: “We lost the first wickets early on and we played ordinary shots. On a wicket like this we shouldn’t lose four wickets in the first ten overs, but it happens. Our partnership was good, we thought that we need to bat 7-8. no more overs. Very poor batting performance on a surface like this but we need to move on to the next one. They are the no.1 team and here are the reasons. They have three world-class bowlers who make things easier for them. “We have done well in the bowling department, but the batting is a bit hot and cold. We need to be more consistent. I thought our three seamers played brilliantly. Like Pakistan, our seamers have bowled very well in the last two years. But unfortunately on a pitch like this you can’t get wickets unless the batters make mistakes. [On playing in SL] When I was playing in the LPL, the pitches were a bit slow, the wickets were going up and down a bit and that should help us. So I hope we do well in Colombo.”