Mahmudullah rues batting collapse against India

Sports Monday 11/November/2019 21:33 PM
By: Times News Service
Mahmudullah rues batting collapse against India

New Delhi: Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah felt his side played good cricket during the three-match T20I series against India, but rued the batting implosion that cost them the third match and the series in Nagpur on Sunday, 10 November.
A superb 98-run partnership for the third wicket between Mohammad Naim and Mohammad Mithun had taken Bangladesh to a solid 110/2 in chase of 175, but once Mithun fell for 27 to Deepak Chahar, the floodgates opened.
When Naim was dismissed for a brilliant 48-ball 81 by a Shivam Dube yorker, Bangladesh had slipped to 126/5 and they were eventually rolled over for 144, courtesy of a Chahar hat-trick to finish things off for the hosts; his 6/7 were a world record and secured the series for India 2-1. Barring Naim and Mithun, not one of Bangladesh’s batsmen even got to double figures.
Captain Mahmudullah, who was himself dismissed for eight, called on the team to urgently address this tendency to collapse from good positions.
“We had our chance when we needed 50 runs off 30 balls, but we lost a few wickets rapidly. It cost us the match,” he said.
“If you analyse these three games, we played good cricket. It is hard to get the momentum back once you lose it in T20 cricket. As I have mentioned, we were very close in this game. We lost three or four wickets in six or seven balls. It was the crucial part of this game. We can’t make these mistakes again and again.
“Our game sense needs to improve and we need to become more consistent mentally,” he added. “So as a batting unit, if we can improve then we will have more chances to win.
Worryingly for Bangladesh, some of their more established players such as Mustafizur Rahman, Soumya Sarkar and Liton Das failed to make noteworthy contributions through the course of the series.
Maintain consistency
Mahmudullah, though, said that Bangladesh would continue to back them, pointing that it is difficult to always maintain consistency in the T20 format.
“It is important to back players in T20Is where it is hard to be consistent. As a team and the management, we should back players who are going through a rough time,” he said.