Misjudging the conditions cost Bangladesh dearly in the second Twenty20 against Sri Lanka, which they lost by three wickets to give the tourists 2-0 series sweep on Friday.
The Tigers opted to use Farhad Reza in the last over with nine runs required for a Sri Lankan victory because severe dew in the outfield was preventing the spinners from gripping the ball properly. The decision did not pay off and Farhad conceded 11 runs in the over.
‘The ball was completely wet; he [Sakib al Hasan] wasn’t able to hold the ball,’ Bangladesh captain Mashrafee bin Murtaza said at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong after the match.
‘In the last match we fielded first because I thought of the dew, but in the last match we didn’t get any dew.’
‘So going by that, we thought the wicket was low in the last match so that’s why we batted first.’
‘The ball was low today but there was also a lot of dew, so that was unfortunate.’
‘Sakib knew that he couldn’t bowl.’
‘At one stage we had to bowl cross-seam as [the ball] came out of the pacers’ hands as well,’ he added.
Mashrafee also said that the Tigers wanted Farhad to bowl a bouncer to end the match with Sri Lanka needed two runs to win – a plan that ultimately failed as the bouncer was dispatched for four by Senanyke, who pulled it after fine leg came in.
‘In the last ball we all planned that rather than tying for one run we wanted to win the match. We wanted it to be a bouncer, but the ball was wet and soft. He gave his full effort but after it hit the wicket it became slow,’ said Mashrafee.
‘Forhad actually bowls the bouncers well in practice. The batsman doesn’t play bouncers very well. We wanted him to mis-time and [let us] catch it; that was the plan. He could have bowled a yorker and it could have been the same thing. Our aim was to get a wicket.’
Bangladesh played Sri Lanka neck-and-neck in the series, losing both matches off the last delivery and putting up a brilliant fight in the second match despite only scoring a modest 120 runs, and Mashrafee said the team could take a lot away from the series.
‘I think there are lot of positives that we can take in the ODI series,’ said Mashrafee.
‘There were some injuries but the young players stood up to take responsibility.’
‘Yes we lost the games due to a few mistakes, but the way they performed and played positively, there is a lot to learn from here. The seniors played well. We can take a number of positives from here to the [World Twenty20].’
-With New Age input
