Mahmudullah blames ineffective bowling

Stand-in Bangladesh T20I captain Mahmudullah blamed ineffective bowling on a flat deck for their six-wicket defeat in the first of two T20Is against Sri Lanka at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka Thursday. Bangladesh in the game had went to bat first after winning the toss and posted 193 runs for the loss of five wickets, the side’s highest total in the format. However, bite-less bowling by the helpless Tigers bowlers saw Sri Lanka chase down the target with 20 balls remaining. Mahmudullah following the defeat said the game had exposed the Bangladesh bowlers and indicated a lot of room for improvement. Bangladesh’s bowling has been below-par in recent times and this had made the coaching staff work with the bowling group separately during the national camp held between December and January. Thursday, the Bangladesh bowlers looked out of place as five off the six bowlers in the attack conceded more than 10 runs an over.

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“We need to work as a bowling unit and put out a plan. Work on who is to bowl when and how to get dot balls to create pressure on the opposition. You have to go full out on this kind of wicket. You have to bowl either a proper bouncer or a proper yorker depending on the batsman in the crease,” said Mahmudullah to the media. “The length of delivery is very important on such a wicket. Wicket was very good to bat on, the ball was coming well onto the bat. It is easy to score if you are given the space especially in the power-play,” the right-arm all-rounder added. Young right-arm pacer Saifuddin, in his fifth T20I for Bangladesh, was the most expensive among the home side’s bowlers, giving away 33 runs in two overs. In the first over, Saifuddin conceded 19 and another 14 in the second. In his previous game for Bangladesh in the format, Saifuddin leaked 53 runs in four overs against South Africa in Potchefstroom last October. “I think it was a bad day for him (Saifuddin) and he might have failed to execute his plan. He was trying but was not being able to bowl in areas for which the field was set up. I hope he will work on this,” said Mahmudullah. “I won’t say he is struggling because of inexperience. Rubel [Hossain], Mustafizur [Rahman] have been playing for some time now. Rubel and Mustafizur were our strike bowlers but gave away runs too. [Nazmul Islam] Apu bowled really well. As I said we failed to bowl in the right areas and we gave them easy boundaries,” he added.