Bangladesh ended their ICC World Twenty20 cricket tournament disappointingly but not before showing their improvement in the shortest format.
Tigers lost all their matches in the Super10s stage that included their lowest ever score in Twenty20 internationals but that could not take anything away from their great fighting spirit they showed in the tournament.
Coach Chandika Hathurusinghe emphasised on the positives rather than looking back at the downfall as they finished their campaign.
‘It is true result is showing that we performed badly but at the same time there are some improvements considering the individual performances,’ Hathurusinghe told reporters in Kolkata.
‘We were not a good Twenty20 squad but we managed to score over our average score of 130 to 135 runs.
‘That’s too in this kind of difficult wickets.’
Bangladesh played commendably against the associates considering they were put into a chilly condition that is alien for them for the qualifying round.
But along with it they also had to bear the fact that their morale was severely dented after doubts were raised about two of their premier bowlers- Taskin Ahmed and Arafat Sunny.
That unexpected blow was something Tigers were not ready for considering Mustafizur Rahman was unfit until their second game of the Super10s stage.
The tournament was seemingly getting tougher for Tigers with every passing day as they had seen the inputs provided by the duo in the tournament.
When all the bowlers were struggling against Pakistan, only Taskin and Sunny looked to make things difficult for their counterparts.
The unexpected suspension left the Tigers shell shocked and adding more to their misery they also had to rest Tamim Iqbal for the all important match against Australia.
While there were drawbacks, their only consolation came in the last match when Mustafizur Rahman proved once more why he is the special one in the cricketing world after his five-for against New Zealand.
Hathurusinghe did not show any cause for their below-par performance in the tournament and instead opted to highlight the performance of Mustafiz.
‘I think he is the most intelligent bowler in our team and he mixes his cutters very well,’ said Hathurusighe.
‘I think he can read the opposition batsmen very well,’ he said, after Mustafiz’s five wicket haul.
Bangladesh made several camps prior to the tournament to get their best possible line-up for the format and according to the coach it all had some kind of impact.
Though they failed to capitalise their best chance of beating the India in ICC World Twenty20 and surrendered meekly against the New Zealanders, Hathurusinghe remained optimistic.
‘It can happen in cricket,’ said Hathurusinghe.
-With New Age input
