Mahmud blames players after series loss

After their disappointing 2-1 Twenty20 International series loss to Zimbabwe, the Bangladesh camp was visibly disappointed, and Team Director Khaled Mahmud did not hide it, saying that the players were at fault for the defeat.

Bangladesh’s captain for the match, Mosaddek Hossain, on the contrary, blamed Nasum Ahmed’s 15th over, which gave away 34 runs, rather than focusing on the lacklustre batting performances from the middle-order.

Chasing 157, Bangladesh fell 10 runs short after three of their five middle-order batsmen, Anamul Haque, Najmul Hossain Shanto, and Mahmudullah Riyad, played 60 balls, half of the total, and scored just 57 runs.

Mahmud said they failed to execute and had to take the blame.

“We always say we will learn from our mistakes. But we haven’t. When we will, I don’t know. I’m very disappointed. I will blame the players because their execution was totally wrong,” he said.

The former Bangladesh captain also said it was a grave warning for the Tigers with the Asia Cup and T20 World Cup coming up.

“In these conditions, you can say that this is not the world’s best bowling attack (Zimbabwe). The attacks we will face in the Asia Cup or World Cup are far better than theirs. If we cannot do well here on good wickets, then it is a grave warning,” he added.

Bangladesh’s squad for the series initially did not include the likes of Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, and Mahmudullah (later drafted in after Nurul Hasan Sohan’s injury).

Before leaving the country, Mahmud said he wouldn’t be disappointed even if they lost 3-0, but he was after the defeat and explained that he had said that to not pressurise them.

“I said that because I didn’t want to put pressure on them. I wanted to form a team. You cannot always play experienced players. Someone has to take responsibility. I wanted to see if they could do it. We are a better team than Zimbabwe, and that we couldn’t win was our failure,” he said.

Mosaddek, who filled in for Nurul, besides blaming Nasum’s over, said that they lost the game in the middle overs.

“I think if you watch the matches, we are drifting away from the matches in the middle overs. When we are bowling, we are not being able to pick up wickets in the middle overs, and when it comes to batting, it’s the same.

“The batsman can’t quite set the game up in the middle stages and the pressure piles on in the latter stages. I think if we can come out of these predicaments, then we can do better,” he said after the match.