Hathurusingha blames bowlers for massive defeat

Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha thought the lack of execution in the bowling let the team down as they conceded a comprehensive 137-run defeat to England at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala on Tuesday.

England posted 364-9 after losing the toss and Bangladesh were bundled out for 227 runs while chasing the big total.

Bangladesh made a flying start in the tournament beating Afghanistan but even in that game the pacers struggled early in the innings.

Against England pacers failed to give a breakthrough and England top order formed two century stands to give a great start.

“The fast bowlers were unusually off-colour in the powerplay in the last two games. Normally, in a day game, early on, there is something for the fast bowlers. Even in this game, there was seam movement early on, a little bit tacky and two-paced. Two openers were playing and missing, there were mishits, and they were a little bit lucky. After that, they batted really well. So, if we had some early wickets, the story would have been different,” said Haturusingha at the post-match press conference.

The bowlers, however, did well in the last 10 overs picking up a few wickets and stopped England from scoring an even bigger score. Shoriful was effective later in the innings with his slower balls as English batters tried to take him on.

“We were a little disappointed with the way we started. We could have bowled a little bit more onto the stumps, especially in the first 10 overs. We came back well. Especially Shoriful, I thought it was very brave to bowl those variations when we were really under pressure. They would have got 400 at one stage I thought. There are some positives but we didn’t bowl well,” said the coach.

Against Afghanistan Bangladesh spinners got wickets bowling outside the off-stump but England picked up too many boundaries. When asked if Bangladesh did not have plan B, Hathuru said it was lack of execution not plan.

“The plan was not to bowl outside the stumps, the plan was to bowl at the stumps. I think the execution let us down. This game especially. In the last game we came back later with the help of the spinners. This game, what happened was our spinners did not bring us back into the game due to the good, intelligent batting.”

While batting Bangladesh lost four quick wickets that ended any chance of reaching the target and the coach pointed that as a big concern.

“If you don’t get a start, if you lose more than three wickets in the first powerplay, then you are not winning many matches. So, definitely it’s a concern for batting. When we play seven batters, we want our top order to fire so that’s a big concern.”

Despite the big loss, Litton Das getting back in form with a brilliant 76 consisting of some breathtaking boundaries was a big positive for Tigers. Their coach said start is vital.

“The biggest positive to take away from this game is Litton coming into form. The way he batted is a good sign for us and for him as well. We know he is a match winner. We need runs from the start. We can’t keep losing early wickets. So, him coming to form and Mushi getting some runs is a good positive.”

Hathuru kept faith in his young opener Tanzid Hassan who failed in both the games.

“He got out two times. But he was on the runs in the two practice games. He is just getting into international cricket. If you judge someone with two innings, then Malan would not be playing this game as well. So we have to be patient.”

Hathuru also defended the decision of fielding first saying it was bad bowling that let them down.

“I don’t think we made a mistake by bowling first as the wicket had something. And especially it’s a 10:30 start, and then yesterday, a little bit of rain. There was something on the wicket. The fact was that we did not bowl good areas, our lengths and lines were not good.”