Bowling lets Tigers down

Sri Lanka opener Kusal Perera set the tone of his side’s mammoth 198 in the lone T20I against Bangladesh at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium yesterday. He struck a blistering 64 off 44 balls. Photo: AFP

The end of the month-long Sri Lanka tour with Bangladesh's 17-run loss in the lone T20I at the Pallekele International Stadium yesterday provided a glimpse of how far the team had come, not just in their play but also in their attitude towards losses.
Not long ago a narrow loss against a team ranked number one in the format while trying to contend with handicaps like a woefully crippled bowling attack would have drawn 'silver lining' responses from the Bangladesh team. After all, the tourists had recorded their highest score batting second in T20Is when they scored 181 for seven in reply to Sri Lanka's 198 for five. Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim however saw yesterday's result as what it was, a defeat, and responded accordingly.
“It is a sad end to the tour,” said the diminutive captain at the post-match press conference. His team were doubtless looking forward to a winning end to a tour that contained their first drawn Test against Sri Lanka and the first win against the hosts in their backyard, which saw them sharing an ODI series with their opponents for the first time.
Yesterday's loss was mainly down to poor bowling from pace bowlers Rubel Hossain and Shahadat Hossain, whose combined eight overs cost 94, almost half of Sri Lanka's 198 for five. Before the match Mushfiqur had said that their pace bowling and how they performed in the PowerPlay and death overs would be crucial and it was in those very aspects that the Tigers were found wanting as first Kushal Perera and then Jeevan Mendis laid into the Tigers' pacers.
“Our bowling and fielding was disappointing. We gave away 26 extras, and in the field we conceded 20-25 extra runs,” said a disappointed Mushfiqur. “Throughout the series our bowling was our main problem. If our pace bowlers had bowled better then the series results might have been better. There are lots of positives to take from the tour but it is a sad end.”
The captain was worried about Bangladesh's pace bowling wares, and stressed the need to do something about the problem, especially with a tour of Zimbabwe coming up.
A talking point surrounding the match was T20 specialist Ziaur Rahman's non-selection for the match, and Rubel and Shahdat's poor showing only fuelled the discontent. Mushfiqur however defended the decision.
“We needed frontline bowlers. We knew the pitch had nothing in it for the spinners. Zia bowled well in the first ODI but did not perform too well in the second and third,” said Mushfiqur.
The Tigers found themselves at the wrong end of some umpiring howlers yesterday, with debutant Shamsur Rahman and more crucially Mohammad Ashraful adjudged leg-before to balls that would have missed the stumps.
“We can only feel sorry about it (umpiring decisions) and can do nothing else about it. They always seem to go against us,” was his fatalistic take on the umpiring errors.
Sri Lanka's T20 skipper Dinesh Chandimal was generous in his praise for Bangladesh. “As expected, Bangladesh played very well and I have said before that they are a very good team. The dew was a factor playing under lights; it was difficult to grip the ball. But I think us getting a big score in the first innings was the turning point,” said the new skipper.