Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan rued that he had no explanation for their batting debacle after the Tigers were bowled out for just 103 runs in 32.5 overs on the opening day of their first Test against West Indies in Antigua on Thursday.

The hosts finished the day on 95-2 but the Tigers’ batting debacle meant West Indies were firmly on top at the end of the first day’s play.

‘I don’t see an option of explaining it. I don’t have an explanation and I don’t know if someone else has an explanation,’ said Shakib during a press conference after the day’s play.

The ace all-rounder hinted that the captain, coach or the selectors had the easy option available to them if the batting performances continued to be bad.

‘Normally, in this situation, I feel that a coach, captain or selectors’ task is easy. If someone doesn’t perform, drop him. I think that would be the easiest task for a coach, captain or selector. ‘If you aren’t performing, we drop you’ [they may say],’ he said.

Batsmen showed poor application after initially being caught off-guard by the extra bounce on a few deliveries. Despite the hosts’ run-rate was very slow, they showed what kind of application was needed to survive.

Shakib, who scored almost half his side’s runs in the first innings with a fifty (51 off 67 balls), hoped the batsmen will find their feet in the second innings.

‘The batsmen will have to take responsibility and they have to do their job by themselves. No one is going to come and no one will be spoon-feeding it to them,’ he said.

‘They failed but hopefully they will comeback in the second innings in a way that we can recover from the disappointment. That challenge will be there.’

The Tigers skipper was happier with the bowlers’ performance for keeping their spirits up.

‘About today [Thursday], I am very happy. There were a few half-chances and if we could have taken them, it would have been a perfect day for the pacers, something we haven’t gotten in quite a few days. I think the pace unit bowled well as a unit,’ said Shakib.

‘They bowled well in partnerships. Mustafiz was great. Khaled [Ahmed] bowled very well with the new ball. Ebadot [Hossain] always bowls well. All three bowled well. They were a bit unlucky. If we had gotten two more wickets, we would have been in a better position. If they were 100-4, we could have gotten into the game by bowling them out after another 100 runs.

‘Not saying it won’t happen but they have a lot of batsmen left and tomorrow [Friday] we will have to do the same thing. Our bowlers’ challenge, since the wicket appears to be getting better for batting, will be how disciplined they are,’ he added.