Basseterre (St Kitts), Dec 13 Bangladesh captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz criticised bowlers for their poor show in the four-wicket loss against West Indies in the third and final ODI to concede series 3-0 at Warner Park on Thursday.
Bangladesh posted a total of 321/5 riding on the half-centuries from Soumya Sarkar (73), Mehidy (77), Jaker Ali (62 not out) and Mahmudullah (84 not out) after being put to bat first.
In reply, debutant Amir Jangoo's maiden ODI century (104 not out) and Keacy Carty's 95 guided West Indies to a four-wicket win with 25 balls to spare as Bangladesh bowlers looked off rhythm in the defense of 322.
The hosts were reeling at 4/86 in 14.1 overs but the 132-run partnership between Jangoo and Carty set the tone of the chase with Gudakesh Motie making the vital contribution of 44 not out for the match-winning stand with the former.
"Losing after scoring 320 runs is disappointing. I did not believe that we would lose this match. To be honest, we picked four wickets inside first 20 overs but later they built a partnership of 150 runs and we could not get any wicket while they scored a lot of boundaries. We could not bowl the way we should have done and that was probably the problem," Mehidy said.
"They needed to score (close to) 6.50 runs per over and you have to be calculative while chasing and we would have done the same thing. Obviously, the wicket was good and we had small mistakes. If we could have rectify those mistakes we could have done better. It is difficult for each bowler in this kind of wicket because you won't get that much help when the batsmen play lot of shots the opportunity of scoring runs increases. It was challenging but I feel if we could do a bit better it would have been good both pacers and spinners," he added.
Mehidy acknowledged that the series loss as a setback for Bangladesh's confidence ahead of the Champions Trophy. However, he emphasised that there is still time to address their shortcomings before the global event. Bangladesh's recent ODI form has been disappointing, with five losses in their last six matches, including series defeats to Afghanistan and the West Indies. Their only ODI success this year came with a 2-1 series win against Sri Lanka.
"Look this year we played six matches after the World Cup and lost five out of them. We were playing Test cricket but probably we think about the ODI. As the Champions Trophy is ahead, it would have been better if we could win it as it would have bolstered our confidence. We still have time in hand to work on our shortcomings," said Mehidy.
"The positive thing is that we almost scored 300 runs in two matches. In the first match scored 295 runs and today we scored 321 runs. Jaker Ali finished well while the way Riyad bhai (Mahmudullah) batted and Tanzid Tamim batted at the top or the Soumya played today and I played two innings... so overall our batters batted well.
"The Champions Trophy is ahead and the wickets will be good there. It will be a challenge for the bowlers. Since we lost the game after scoring 300 runs, we can move forward with that mentality (of how to defend 300 runs) and work on it," he added.
Bangladesh will now hope for a better show in the three-match T20I series, starting in Kingstown on Sunday.
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