Cricket | Mahmudullah rues bowlers' inability to apply pressure

Bangladesh skipper Mahmudullah said that the inability of his bowlers to apply pressure on the Indian batsmen despite having started well, along with a top order failure, went against them in their 17-run loss to India in the fifth game of the Nidahas Trophy 2018. Bangladesh failed to replicate their performance against Sri Lanka, where they chased down a record 215, as India pulled off a win despite Mushfiqur Rahim's defiant half-century that brought Bangladesh close on Wednesday (March 14).

Mushfiqur, who single-handedly took his team to victory during the remarkable run-chase in the previous game against Sri Lanka, managed to play his part once again with a second fifty on the trot with an unbeaten 72, but it still was not enough as wickets fell at regular intervals, in addition to the clump that fell upfront to reduce Bangladesh to 61 for 4.

Rohit Sharma struck a timely half-century to guide India to 176 for 3 before offspinner Washington Sundar grabbed 3 for 22 to peg Bangladesh back early on, who eventually didn't manage to recover from those early hiccups. Mushfiqur and Sabbir Rahman resurrected their innings by adding 65 runs for the fifth wicket to bring them back into the contest with the possibility of another remarkable win in Colombo, but India's bowlers kept their nerve until the end.

"I think we started well with the ball but gave away too many runs in the last few overs," said Mahmudullah. "If we had conceded 10 runs fewer, it would have helped us. With the bat, Mushfiqur made 72 out of 160-odd (159). If another top-order batsman could have contributed around 25 runs, things may have been different for us.

"I personally felt that we should have chased down that score. Tamim gave us a good start but on the other side, nobody could step up. We should have had another innings of 25-odd, which would have made the difference, as we had another batsman scoring 72. We started well with the ball. Our spinners bowled brilliantly. Miraz started well and then gave away a bit more runs later on. There are some areas that we need to work on with the ball."

Mahmudullah also felt that his inability to perform also played a big part in the loss that helped India reach the final. "I couldn't kick on with Mushfiqur during our partnership. We still have a game in hand, so it is better to not think of what happened in this game. We should stick to our plans, which will bring me something good," Mahmudullah added.

(CRICBUZZ)