Mahmudullah: Tigers didn’t execute plans

Cricket365
February 17, 2018

Bangladesh skipper Mahmudullah refused to put the defeats to Sri Lanka down to the inside information their new coach Chandika Hathurusingha would have from his tenure as the Tigers coach.

Sri Lanka blasted past the target set by Bangladesh in the first match of the two match series with Mahmudullah leading a side missing both Tamim and regular skipper Shakib-al-Hasan.

Speaking ahead of the series decider in Sylhet on Sunday Mahmudullah said: “If we could play to potential and fulfilled our responsibility, the result could have been different and the whole scenario could have been something else.

“It is right that the information that he gathered about us during his time frame would be helpful to him but at the same time we failed to execute our plans.

“I think we failed to perform – that was our responsibility, and if only we could have done that, then all these things would have taken a backseat. We just could not play according to our plans and that made us pay.

“He is [a] very capable coach and does have the ability to use the experience that he gathered staying with us but at the same time we have to admit our failure of executing our plan in the middle.”

Mahmudullah hopes that the return of aggressive opener Tamim Iqbal will give his side the boost they need to level the T20I series against Sri Lanka.

He said: “I am hopeful we can end the series on the right note. Tamim is fit and he will be okay for tomorrow’s match and his availability will always help us.”