Mashrafe bin Mortaza rued their batting faults as Bangladesh lost the two-match Twenty20 series 2-0 against South Africa yesterday. Bangladesh, who have risen as a one-day international unit, failed to grab the pace of the T20 format as on both the matches the batsmen failed to make an impression and continue the good work done by the bowlers.
After electing to bat first, the visitors were 95 without a loss in 10 overs before the home side bowlers crawled back in the game by allowing just 74 runs in the next 10 overs. The target of 170 was always going to be a big task for the Tigers batsmen who were unable to fetch 148 in the first match. Eventually they were bundled out for 138 despite a healthy start of 46 runs provided by the openers in six overs.
Mashrafe said the batsmen should have played with more cooler heads while losing quick wickets in the middle stage of the innings caused the downfall.
“We came back well enough after (South Africa) made 95 in the first 10 overs. We started well with the bat but we couldn’t put together partnerships. I think we had problems with our decision-making. If we think about our strength, we have to score more runs in the first six overs. Other teams have hitters at the death but we are slightly weak in that area. When I say decision-making, I mean shot selection. We could have gone into the last five overs with more batsmen in the shed. We could have got 60-odd in those overs but that didn’t quite happen for us,” said Mashrafe after the 31-run defeat.
Mushfiqur Rahim, who has been a consistent run maker in the middle over the past two years, have been silent for a while now but that does not worry captain Mashrafe as he said, “There is nothing to worry. He did the best he could. We would always want Mushfiq to be in his best form, but it won’t happen all the time. It is hard to get going in two T20s. A batsman don’t always get time in this format. I am sure he will come back and the day he does, we will win that match.”
The 31-year old Bangladesh captain also shed light on the decision of playing eight batsmen as he said the team management were looking to extend the batting tail. He also regretted the fumbles on the field which cost them valuable runs.