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“Dot ball is a big problem in T20Is. We have to reduce that in the next game. But when we bowled or fielded, had we saved more runs or not given away the no-ball that went for four, they would have scored 20 fewer runs. Chasing 170-odd would have been a different story,” Soumya said during the post-match press conference Thursday. Soumya informed that if anyone from the middle-order had played a big knock then the result could have been different. The southpaw also said after a largely disappointing tour, he planned to bat according to his natural game, just like the way he batted in the Sri Lanka T20Is. “If someone from No 3 to 6 had played a big innings, in the last 10 overs, it would have helped us. Then we would have had a set batsman at the crease, making things easier. There are different plans chasing 130, 190 or 200. We were mentally prepared to be as positive as possible, and try to win,” explained Soumya. “Because it was a different format, there is always a different plan. I planned that I should play the way I played T20Is in Sri Lanka. There are no holding roles in T20I. If you are playing slowly, it puts pressure on the non-striker. I have to play my way; the other batsman has to support me similarly. It is better if we play this way,” he added.
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This is the first time in the tour Bangladesh have produced some fight against the host and Soumya believes such performance will encourage the team to perform better in the next T20I. “There’s no end to learning. They made nearly 200 runs but we also made 175. If one batsman had done well in the middle overs, we could have won the game easily. This will give us confidence that we can also score 200 runs,” he concluded. The Potchefstroom T20I begins at 2:30pm local time, 6:30pm Bangladesh standard time, and GTV and Maasranga TV will telecast it live.
