Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah blamed his team's poor batting performance to the whitewash in the three-match Twenty20 International series against Pakistan on Monday (27 January), saying they really need to improve their batting.
The hosts Pakistan won the T20I series with a 2-0 lead with the third and final match washed out on Monday in Lahore after winning the first two matches with heavy margins at home.
In the three-match T20I series, the Tigers could manage only scores of 141-5 and 136-6 in the opening two games respectively and the skipper said he was expecting a better performance from his batsmen in the just-concluded series against Pakistan in Lahore.
However, he praised Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal, who scored 39 and 65 runs in the series despite having had hardly any assistance from the other end.
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Mahmudullah said after the third match washed out in Lahore, “I think we did not achieve much. If I talk about achievement, I would only talk about Tamim. He batted realizing the nature of the wicket and with his experience, he came out good. As a batting unit, we didn't do so well.”
The veteran further added, “The wickets were not so batting-friendly but still we have the capability of making better runs. Bowlers did well, they bowled well in the first match, but we really need to improve our batting. They are the number-one team and we are number nine. But as captain, I wanted our team to put in a better performance.”
Praising Pakistan's pace attack, Mahmudullah said: “Pakistan has a huge factory of producing fast bowlers. They have a bunch of good fast bowlers. Haris Rauf has been very good with his new ball and old ball skills. Shaheen Afridi is doing very well. I think they always have a very good pace bowling attack.”
However, the Bangladesh captain admitted that there were difficult batting conditions for the series in Lahore, but says they should have approached in a different way.
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He added, “As I mentioned, the wicket was not too easy to bat on. In the first game, we understood the wicket a bit later and we should have approached in a different way. But that's not an excuse, next time I think we need to keep this in mind and come up with better ideas and execute.”
The 33-year-old was satisfied with the security in Pakistan, saying he is looking forward to playing in the upcoming Test series that will be played in two phases with the opening Test starting February 7 while the final Test and one-off ODI will be played in April.
Mahmudullah signed off by saying, “The thing is that I have been here before. Lahore has been a wonderful city, the hospitality; the arrangements have always been up to the mark. And this time we experienced a great city and the arrangement was good and hopefully, we are gonna come back again in the Test matches.”
(With Cricbuzz Inputs)
