'Kiwi bowlers were more intelligent'

The build-up to Bangladesh's last ICC World T20 game was fascinating, if not spectacular, considering that they had fought well against Australia and had a near-miss against India. But all the hype and adrenalin that Bangladesh carried into their game against New Zealand seemed to burst like a bubble yesterday evening.

It was a total mismatch. The Kiwis showed that they had more firepower to overrun a sub-continent team on a typical sub-continent wicket. They had done it against India and with the Bangladesh demolition they look like they are favourites to win their first ICC silverware.

Bangladesh coach Chandika Hatuhrusingha, who confronted the press after his team's stunning 75-run defeat in a low-scoring affair, gave all the credit to an intelligent Kiwi bowling.

“I think they bowled beautifully on this wicket. Their bowlers were more intelligent and exploited the slow wicket better than us,” said the Bangladesh coach, adding that it was a wicket where 120-130 would have been a good score.

When asked if Bangladesh's top order perished playing glory shots while chasing New Zealand's 145, he refused to blame his batters completely.

“I don't look at it that way. I think it was one of those days the batting approach was not right. They batted poorly. The wicket was something like 120-130 but we bowled a few bad deliveries and the fielding lacked some discipline. It was a wicket where shot-making was difficult,” he said while defending his side's batting, which lacked the necessary discipline to respond on a wicket that required batsmen to spend some time out there.

The coach, who has rarely been in such embarrassing situations since he took over almost two years ago, tried to reflect on the brighter side in a format where Bangladesh were badly out of sorts. 

“If you look at our record I think we have improved in the last one year,” he said, adding that Bangladesh played extremely well in the Asia Cup.

When asked to comment about Mustafizur Rahman's brilliant bowling performance in a lost cause, the coach described the left-armer as a very intelligent bowler.

“I think he is the most intelligent bowler we have in our team. He not only mixes his cutters with his yorkers but he can also read the opposition batsmen very well,” he said. He further said that his ream had made plenty of inroads in the shortest version of the game.

Hathurusinga's appearance in the post-match briefing however was more of an effort from the team management to play down an embarrassment that nobody anticipated from a side that has been very competitive under the leadership of Mashrafe Bin Mortaza.

It was a kind of batting performance that Mashrafe -- who was perhaps playing his last T20I on the world stage, if not his last overall -- had hardly anticipated especially after putting in such a good bowling performance on the field. Besides, the famous Eden Gardens will remain as a thorn for the Tigers, where they started their Super 10 campaign with a heavy defeat against Pakistan and finished with their lowest-ever T20I total against the Kiwis.