Nidahas Trophy | Bangladesh are slowly gaining confidence in T20s, believes Mushfiqur Rahim

03/19/2018

After a brilliant performance in the Nidahas Trophy, which was won by India, Mushfiqur Rahim seemed satisfied as he claimed that Bangladesh are slowly gaining the confidence in the T20 format. However, the Bangladesh wicketkeeper has admitted that losing the final against India really hurt them.

The Bangladesh cricket team surprised everyone at the Nidahas Trophy as they managed to defeat Sri Lanka twice in their own den which included the victory in the virtual semi-final. They managed to win the match by two wickets which helped them gear-up for the final against Team India. Many people may be expected a one-sided game but the Bangla Tigers took the game to the last stage and convert it into a nail-biting event. It was India’s day, especially Dinesh Karthik's, who pulled off a masterclass in hitting as he ended up scoring 29 off just 8 balls in the final two overs of the game.

Mushfiqur played an important role in Bangladesh’s journey to the final particularly his unbeaten 72-run knock against both Sri Lanka and India. Despite losing the final, the 30-year-old seemed to in a positive mood as he believed the lessons from the tournament would help the side in long term.

“To be honest, we have not become that good a side in T20s till now. There are some things which we can of course improve upon and our team management and coaching staff are looking at those things,” he said as quoted by The Daily Star.

“At least there was this confidence that we were doing well in ODI and Test formats the last few years and on our day we can beat anyone. I think in T20 we are slowly gaining that confidence as well.”

Bangladesh had the chances to win the trophy when India needed 12 runs in last six deliveries and till the last ball of the match, the side was in the contest as Soumya Sarkar managed to take the wicket of Vijay Shankar. But unfortunately, Karthik's six off the last ball ensured a nightmare finish for the Tigers.

“We made it to the final and in that respect, it does feel good but it is natural that everyone will feel bad after the defeat.”