DHAKA - Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal made no attempt to defend his teammates who were unable to build on his century in the first innings of the second Test against England on Friday.
In a topsy-turvy day's play in Dhaka, opener Tamim made 104 runs off 147 balls while Mominul Haque scored 66 as the hosts surged to what should have been a commanding score of 171 for one. But Tamim's dismissal, lbw to Moeen Ali, sparked a spectacular collapse, as Bangladesh lost their last nine wickets for 49 runs and were folded for 220 with seven of their batsmen failing to make double figures.
"I can't give an explanation for this collapse," Tamim said after opening day's play. "We played some wrong shots, some were good deliveries, but if we had scored 100 more runs from what we got, the game would have been in our favour. The ball started to spin after 45 overs, but this can happen," he said.
Ali finished with 5-57 but Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes also had their share of credit as they picked up five wickets together to expedite the collapse.
England then suffered their own mini-collapse as they were reduced to 50 for three before rain brought an early end to proceedings, 11.3 overs before the scheduled close of play.
"The way the wickets fell today, my century has suddenly become special," said Tamim, who hit 12 boundaries. "If we could have added 50 runs to our 170-run stand...it would have been better for the team. The blame lies with everyone, from myself to Rabbi (last man Kamrul Islam). But we got three crucial wickets so we could still make a game of it tomorrow," he said.
Tamim took 20 balls to get off the mark but grew in confidence to bring his century in style hitting Moeen for back-to-back fours through cover. He said he made an error of judgement after reaching three figure mark that cost him his wicket.
He padded up a delivery in Moeen's next over without offering any shot and umpire raised the finger without any delay. He unsuccessfully reviewed the call but replay showed ball was going to brush off his leg stump, ending his highly impressive innings rather on a disappointing note. "It was the third ball I had left like that. I wasn't doing it on purpose," he said.
"In the Chittagong wicket, the ball was turning from that spot so maybe I was thinking about it. I made the mistake. I should have offered a shot," he said.