There was an early setback in the Bangladesh national cricket team’s hope of a new beginning in the T20s as they lost the second match by two wickets of the now-extended three-match series against the UAE at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Monday.
The Liton Das-led team now must win the third match today at the same venue to avoid a series defeat, which could be their second in consecutive years after losing a series to the USA last year before the T20 World Cup.
On Monday night, Bangladesh failed to defend 205 runs—their second highest away score—as the UAE pulled off their record chase in the penultimate ball of the match to level the series 1-1.
This was Bangladesh’s seventh defeat in the format against an associate nation and first against the UAE.
This was also the highest score Bangladesh failed to defend in a T20I. They lost to Sri Lanka after making 193 in the first innings at Mirpur in 2018.
Liton rued mistakes in the bowling in the middle overs as well as their fielding after the loss. He also mentioned the role of the dew.
‘Every defeat is tough, but we batted well on this type of wicket,’ Liton said after the match. ‘The wicket was good. But I think they got the advantage of the dew while batting. We tried. But we made some mistakes in the fielding and bowling in the middle overs.’
After the UAE made 107 runs in the opening stand, Bangladesh got back into the game by taking some quick wickets.
But they missed multiple opportunities, and the bowlers seemed clueless when the dew became a factor.
‘You have to understand that when playing on such a small ground, the impact of the dew might be important. That’s why you need to be calculative while bowling. You have got to plan differently for different batters,’ said Liton.
The hosts needed 29 runs off the last 12 balls when Bangladesh seemed to be in the driving seat. But after Shoriful Islam gave away 17 runs in the penultimate over, it was too much to handle for Tanzim Hasan, who finished with a figure of 3.5-0-55-1.
It was also a bad day at the office for the debutant Nahid Rana, who gave away 50 runs from four overs to claim two wickets. He became only the third bowler after Ebadot Hossain and Shoriful to give away at least 50 runs on debut.
‘Of course, there were more expectations because of what Rana did earlier,’ said Liton. ‘But there will be good days and bad days in cricket.’
Liton didn’t point a finger at their batting after the defeat. However, the skipper wasn’t particularly happy with his effort.
He scored 40 runs off 32 balls and failed to capitalise on the start he got. Liton admitted that he should have done more.
‘What I did wasn’t enough [for the team]. But I will try to give my best,’ Liton said.
‘We will sit and discuss. And we will turn things around,’ the Bangladesh skipper added.
