Bangladesh are not learning from past mistakes and still "have a long way to go" in T20 cricket, skipper Mahmudullah has said after losing the three-match series in the shortest format to India in Nagpur on Sunday.
Bangladesh had come close to a victory on many occasions but have failed to cross the line, especially
against top teams like India losing the T20 series 1-2.
Mahmudullah admitted the experienced hands like him and Mushfiqur Rahim should have taken the team over the line after rookie Mohammad Naim took the game deep with a brilliant 81 off 48 balls.
"I can't blame Mushy. He won us the game in Delhi. So, you can't say he failed miserably. Yeah, if you say about today's game, yes we failed. That I agree," the Bangladesh T20 captain said. “Yeah, if you say about today’s game, yes we [seniors] failed. That I agree because we had an opportunity but we couldn’t make it,” Mahmudullah said. “We had a chance when we needed 49 off 30 balls.
But in the end, we lost a few wickets. We could have wrapped it up. That’s what cost the match for us.”
"We have a long way to go in T20 cricket. We don't have big hitters. We have to be dependent on our skill hitting. So, we are working on our game sense and become more consistent mentally," said Mahmudullah following the 30-run loss to India in the series decider.
"As a batting unit, if we can improve then we will have more chances to win," he added.
Needing 50 runs off the last 30 balls with six wickets in hand, Bangladesh were on course for a memorable series win here on Sunday but lost wickets for just 18 runs to blow it all away.
“If you see, we did similar kind of mistakes probably in a few games in recent times. That's where I think big teams are quite good and very consistent in these situations and they can chase down this sort of total,” said Mahmudullah.
"Having said that, the wicket in Nagpur was very good to chase on. Our bowlers did a very good job to restrict them to 174. We just didn't finish well," he opined.
Not many expected Bangladesh to take the series right down to the wire, especially in the absence of senior players Tamim Iqbal and the suspended Shakib Al Hasan.
"If you analyze these three games, I think we played good cricket. But T20 cricket is such a format, if you lose momentum, it's very hard to get it back. We were very close in this game but as we lost 3-4 wickets in 6 or 7 balls and that's the crucial part of that game," said the skipper.
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