'Most of our players have difficulty reading the wickets'

In the final T20 match against India, Bangladesh lost by a staggering 133 runs, resulting in a double whitewash across both the Test and T20 series. Overall, Bangladesh would prefer to forget this series, but even in the last match, the disappointing performance led to clear expressions of frustration from batter Towhid Hridoy during the post-match press conference.

Despite scoring a career-high 63 runs in international T20 cricket, Hridoy couldn’t shake the gloom of the heavy defeat. His disappointment was evident as he addressed the media, emphasizing that he had no excuses to offer.

Reflecting on the series, Hridoy stated, "There were deficiencies everywhere. On some days, our bowling was good, while our batting faltered. On other days, the batting was solid, but the bowling let us down. Overall, I can say we have significant areas to improve in 2-3 departments. The biggest issue is that we don’t often play on such flat wickets. As we gradually adapt, I believe we will improve over time. I’m not using the wicket as an excuse, but we rarely play on pitches like this. I hope that the more we play, the more experience we gain, and the better we perform, Inshallah."

Despite the losses, Hridoy insists that Bangladesh’s standards are not exceedingly low. He remarked, "I wouldn’t say our standards are very low. We have played against many big teams, and India is undoubtedly a strong side, the defending champions. They are playing at home, and they have the advantage of knowing the conditions and pitches well. Their skill level is also ahead of ours. However, it’s not that we are drastically behind. I believe we are in a good position. If we can improve our execution in both bowling and batting on such flat wickets, we will see better results, Inshallah."

Hridoy pointed out that many players still struggle to read the pitch conditions accurately. "Most of our players have difficulty reading the wickets. We play most of our matches in Mirpur, and when we play in Chattogram, we have a better idea of what to expect. The variability of the pitches makes it challenging for us to predict how they will behave. I believe that if we continue to play on good wickets, we can improve over time, even if it doesn’t happen overnight, Inshallah."