Rohit Sharma was a disappointed captain after India’s series-conceding five-run defeat at the hands of Bangladesh in the second ODI at Dhaka on Wednesday (December 7).
Opting to bat first, the hosts rode on Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s unbeaten 100 off 83 balls and Mahmudullah’s 96-ball 77 to post 271/7 on the board.
In reply, the Men in Blue were reduced to 65/4 before Shreyas Iyer (82) and Akshar Patel (56) added 107 runs for the fifth wickets to bail the visitors out of trouble. Once the partnership was broken, the visitors suffered another mini collapse and slipped to 213/8.
Amid the pressure situation, Rohit, who sustained a thumb injury while fielding earlier in the game, produced a blazing half-century (51* off 28 balls) but it wasn’t enough to take India over the finishing line.
Speaking after the game, the Indian skipper shared an update on his thumb injury and also rued the team’s bowling performance for allowing Bangladesh to pile up a stiff total after being reduced to 69/6.
“It (thumb injury) isn't too great. Some dislocation and some stitches. Fortunately, not a fracture and so, I was able to bat. When you lose a game, there are positives and negatives. From being 69/6, allowing them to get to 270-odd wasn't a great effort from our bowlers,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“We started well but the middle overs and the back end is what's hurting us a lot. Happened in the last game as well. It's something we need to work on. Not taking anything away from Mehidy and Mahmudullah, was a great partnership but we also need to find ways of breaking such partnerships. In One-Day cricket, it's about partnerships and when you get those, you have to ensure that they are converted to match-winning partnerships. That's what they did,” he added.
Rohit Sharma also expressed his concerns at the injury woes to multiple Indian players in the ODI series in Bangladesh.
Mohammad Shami, who was selected for the series, was ruled out before the tour while the likes of Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Sen and Akshar Patel faced injury issues.
“There are few injury concerns, we need to get to the bottom of this. Need to try and monitor them, because it's important to understand this. When they come to play for India, they need to be at more than 100 percent. We need to monitor their workload because we can't have guys coming in to play for the country half-fit,” Rohit stated.
(With Cricbuzz inputs)
