We can blame the wicket but we played poorly: Tamim
"I thought the wicket, this is not what we expected - you can have pace and bounce, that's a different case but uneven that's very hard to describe. Not taking anything away, we should have applied ourselves a little better. Maybe get 230-240 and see what happens," Tamim said in the post-match presentation.
Bangladesh skipper Tamim Iqbal admitted that the batters batted poorly in the second ODI and that's what cost visitors the match. The wicket was providing uneven bounce every now and then but Tamim believes the batters should have applied themselves a little better.
"I thought the wicket, this is not what we expected - you can have pace and bounce, that's a different case but uneven that's very hard to describe. Not taking anything away, we should have applied ourselves a little better. Maybe get 230-240 and see what happens," Tamim said in the post-match presentation.
"In the second innings, it was also up and down, especially with the new ball. We don't have too much experience playing here. We go by a lot of what stats say and stats says batting first wins games here," he added.
"At the end of the day, we can blame a lot of things but we played poorly. Sometimes things don't go your way."
Bangladesh experienced another batting collapse in the span of a month, and Afif came to the rescue for the Tigers again. Only this time it wasn't just good enough.
"Afif played a good innings, Miraz again showed character. Positive signs but hard to describe a game like this," he concluded.
After opting to bat first, Bangladesh were reduced to 34-5 but they recovered from that shaky start to post 194-9, thanks to Afif Hossain's 72.
Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada indeed made their life hell, taking three top-order wickets in his first spell. Later he returned to the second spell with the same energy and dismissed set batters Afif and Mehidy Hasan Miraz in the space of two balls to deny Bangladesh going past 200. He at the end ended with 5-39, which was his second-best bowling in this format of cricket.
"In the middle overs, we could've scored more and hurt them. At one stage, 100 was looking difficult but we made 194. At the end of the day, we can blame a lot of things but we played poorly. Sometimes things don't go your way," Tamim further said.
The ODI series is now level 1-1 and the two teams will face off in the series decided on Wednesday.
