Inexperience played a major role for the recent failure of the Bangladesh national women’s cricket team on their just concluded tour of India after they failed to grasp the opportunity on several occasions, said captain Salma Khatun on Saturday.
The women cricketers returned home on Saturday after failing to win any matches on the tour – comprised of a three-match Twenty20 international series followed by three one-day internationals – and ended their campaign empty-handed against a strong Indian outfit.
The Indians proved their superiority in the three-match T20 series after they defeated the visitors by 49 runs, seven wickets and 10 runs respectively at Baroda and later continued their dominance in the one-day series played in Ahmedabad.
The hosts again prevailed in the ODI series, registering handsome wins of five wickets, 46 runs and 56 runs in three games respectively to complete a clean sweep of the visitors.
‘Inexperience from our side was exposed on the tour,’ skipper Salma told reporters at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Saturday.
‘We just could not perform as a unit which is required in order to earn a victory against such a strong opposition,’ said Salma.
The women’s team started their journey in international cricket in November, 2011 and so far they have played 11 one-day internationals with only two wins.
Meanwhile, their T20 international campaign got underway in August last year where they have earned three victories to date in their 10 matches played so far.
The 22-year-old Salma added that they were more comfortable in the ODI series and at times appeared to be on an even-keel alongside their opponents only to lose the momentum later by failing to seize chances which proved crucial in determining the fate of the game.
‘I think we were more competitive in the ODIs though the scoreboard won’t reflect that,’ said Salma.
‘We made some silly mistakes and later had to pay for that,’ she added.
She also blamed her opening batters for failing to provide a platform from which the middle-order could initiate for a big total.
‘I think they (openers) failed and that added some undue pressure,’ said Salma.
‘The middle-order always had to reconstruct the innings rather than going after the bowlers straight away, but if the situation was different naturally we could have expected something more,’ she added.
-With New Age input
