"Not a good thing...": Najmul Hossain Shanto reveals reason behind Bangladesh's 2nd T20I loss

Najmul Hossain Shanto-led Bangladesh National Cricket Team took on the Suryakumar Yadav-led India National Cricket Team in the second T20I of the three-match series on Wednesday, October 9.

The Bangla Tigers lost the second match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi by a huge margin of 86 runs to go down 0-2 in the series and face a series defeat.

How Did Bangladesh Perform In the 2nd T20I?

Bangladesh National Cricket Team won the toss and chose to bowl first in the match. India National Cricket Team, on the other hand, got what they wanted as they were anyways looking to bat first. The Bangla Tigers made a sole change to their playing XI by bringing in Tanzim Hasan Sakib for Shoriful Islam while the Men In Blue went unchanged.

They started well with the ball by dismissing Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, and Suryakumar Yadav early, but after that, things didn't go in their favor as Nitish Reddy and Rinku Singh played attacking cricket to take their team to 221/9.

Chasing the target, only Jaker Ali (41) breached the 20-run mark for the visitors while the rest of the batters failed miserably. In the end, Bangladesh were restricted to 135/9 and lost the match by a massive margin.

I think we made the same mistakes (like the first game), not a good thing as a team - Najmul Hossain Shanto

Speaking at the post-match presentation, Najmul Hossain Shanto said that they made the same mistakes as the first T20I, which is not a good sign for the team. Najmul Hossain Shanto added that the Indian team bounced back strong after losing early wickets.

The Bangladesh skipper further said that the batters need to take more responsibility and the bowlers need to do well in the middle overs.

"I think we made the same mistakes (like the first game), not a good thing as a team. We need to improve. I think it was a good decision (to bowl)," Najmul Hossain Shanto said.

"They batted well after the first 6-7 overs, we didn't execute our plans after that. Need to take responsibilities as batsmen, we got to believe in ourselves. The way our bowlers bowled, they were impressive, but we couldn't take wickets in the middle overs like I said," Najmul Hossain Shanto added.

How Did Bangladesh Perform In 1st T20I?

Bangladesh's batting lineup struggled to do well in the 1st T20I against India, managing to post 127 runs before being bowled out in 19.5 overs.

Parvez Hossain Emon (8 off 9) and Litton Das (4 off 2) fell early, leaving Bangladesh at 14/2 within the first few overs. Najmul Hossain Shanto offered some stability with a steady 27 off 25 balls, including one boundary and a six, but his dismissal after building a small partnership further dented Bangladesh's innings.

Towhid Hridoy and Mahmudullah couldn’t make significant contributions, scoring just 12 and 1 respectively, as India kept taking wickets at regular intervals. Jaker Ali added 8 off 6 before being bowled by Varun Chakravarthy, and the team looked in trouble at 57/5.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz was the lone warrior for Bangladesh, top-scoring with 35 off 32 balls, hitting three boundaries. He tried to anchor the innings but lacked strong support from the other end. Rishad Hossain’s 11 off 5 gave a late boost, while Taskin Ahmed contributed 12 off 13. However, their efforts weren't enough as Bangladesh folded for 127.

Then, with the ball, the Bangla Tigers failed miserably against the Indian batters. Only Mustafizur Rahman and Mehidy Hasan Miraz managed to pick one wicket each as India easily completed the run-chase in 11.5 overs to seal a 7-wicket win.