New Delhi, July 7 : All-rounder Mehidy Hasan has said that Bangladesh is not concerned about the ODI series loss to Afghanistan and instead intends to plan better and work on the loopholes before the Asia Cup and ODI World Cup.
Afghanistan on Saturday clinched the three-match series against Bangladesh after winning the second ODI by 142 runs with one game still to play.
Bangladesh are ranked seventh on the current Men’s ODI Team Rankings and qualified for the 50-over World Cup in India at the end of the year courtesy of a third-placed finish during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League.
“I think we had two bad days. We are not worried about it. We can plan better for the Asia Cup and World Cup. We play to win every game. We will find out where we are lacking. I said in a press conference a little while ago that losing against Afghanistan won’t make us a bad side. One series can go bad.
We have a good record in the last three-four years. We finished in the top four in the ICC ODI Super League. I think we can overcome these mistakes from the past two games, and play much better in the Asia Cup and World Cup,” Hasan was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
The all-rounder admitted that Bangladesh found themselves significantly trailing in the match when they were unable to contain the Afghanistan openers, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (145) and Ibrahim Zadran (100) from accumulating a massive 331-run target during the second ODI.
“We gave away 30-40 runs more than we should have. We weren’t organised enough as a bowling unit. If our top order also made runs and had a partnership going, we could have taken this game deep. It became hard when the top order fell quickly,” said Mehidy.
Bangladesh were a bit slow in the run-chase and they stumbled to 28 for 3 in the powerplay before getting bowled out for 189 in 43.2 overs with Ebadbot Hossain unable to bat due to a muscle strain.
