Bangladesh's pace bowler Taskin Ahmed recently pointed out a crucial dropped catch as a turning point in their 86-run defeat against India in the second T20I at Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium. The loss sealed the three-match series for India with a 2-0 lead.
India, after being put into bat, posted a huge total of 221/9, courtesy of impressive performances from youngsters Nitish Kumar Reddy (74 off 34) and Rinku Singh (53 off 29), who stitched a 108-run partnership. All-rounder Hardik Pandya's quick-fire 32 off 19 balls in the end took India past the 200-run mark. Taskin, who was Bangladesh's most economical bowler with figures of 2 for 16, mentioned the impact of Reddy's dropped catch early in the innings.
"Catch drop is always costly, especially against an opponent like them who are best in the world. The margin of error is very small and so it was costly," Taskin told reporters after the match.
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The spinners could not grip the ball as there was dew: Taskin Ahmed
The pacer also opened up about the impact of dew on Bangladesh's bowling strategy, particularly affecting their spinners. He believes that the visitors were in the match till the 12th over, but failing to restrict India at 180, cost them the match.
"Look, in the powerplay we did well but they batted well in the end and unfortunately spinners had a bad day. Normally we don't have this kind of bad days but in T20 anything can happen on any day. The spinners could not grip the ball as there was dew. We were in the game till the 11th or 12th over and on this wicket, if we had kept them under 180 runs, it was chaseable," he added.
In reply, Bangladesh's batting witnessed early struggles, losing three quick wickets in the powerplay. Despite Mahmudullah's 41 off 39 balls, the team succumbed to the pressure from India's bowling attack, managing only 135/9 in their 20 overs. The pacer also pointed out the team's struggles with consistently high scoring, mainly due to the lack of exposure to quality pitches at home.
"They (India) score 180 to 200 runs regularly. For us that is 130-40 at home. We don't have that habit (of scoring big runs) and that is the reality. Hopefully in the coming days our home conditions will get better and at that point we can chase big runs and defend as well. At the same time, if we can play different franchise leagues we will have better experience. Our cricket will develop when the structure of our domestic cricket is strong," Ahmed further concluded.
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