Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah Riyad was pleased his team had its moments throughout the 2-1 series loss to India but also quickly admitted: "We have a long way to go in T20 cricket". 

The visitors, once looking like winning the third and final T20I in Nagpur on Sunday (November 10), eventually went down by 30 runs, which has been a theme for the not so robust side against many other top teams; Bangladesh is close but not yet really there.

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"We have a long way to go in T20 cricket. We don't have big hitters. We have to be dependent on our skill hitting. So we are working on our game sense and become more consistent mentally," Mahmudullah said after the defeat. "As a batting unit, if we can improve then we will have more chances to win."

Bangladesh dropped its guard once again after a terrific third-wicket partnership between Mohammad Naim and Mohammad Mithun in the run-chase. "I am not sure whether it was composure or not," the captain said. "But if you see, we did similar kind of mistakes probably in few games in recent times." 

"That's where I think big teams are quite good and very consistent in these situations and they can chase down this sort of total."

"Having said that, the wicket was very good to chase on. Our bowlers did a very good job to restrict them to 174. We just didn't finish well."

However, one can laud the neighbours' overall performance this tour so far considering they lost both their veterans Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal before the start of this T20I series. 

"If you analyse these three games, I think we played good cricket," Mahmudullah said. "But T20 cricket is such a format, if you lose momentum it's very hard to get it back. We were very close in this game but we lost 3-4 wickets in six or seven balls and that's the crucial part of that game."

Besides Naim, pacer Al-Amin Hossan and spinner Aminul Islam promised a lot in the future through this series. "Al Amin was brilliant. I think he is one of the best T20 bowlers from our country. I personally feel that. International or domestic cricket, he is always a consistent performer," Mahmudullah said. 

"Naim's innings was beautiful to watch. I am feeling bad that we could not finish it. That's why I have more regret. Because he batted so well. We should have finished it for him."

The form of Mustafizur Rahman must be a concern, tho; he went wicketless in all three games. But Mahmuduallah was confident he'll bounce back soon. 

"I think every player faces such a time when in four, five or six matches, you can't perform as your team expects. We all know that he is a champion bowler and sometimes as a team, we expect more from him."

"He is concerned about his form but I don't think he needs to take a break or be dropped. You have to support a champion bowler, he is our match-winning bowler. When he will return to full rhythm, Bangladesh will win matches," the skipper concluded. 

(Inputs from PTI)