'Clear skies and different weather' to blame for poor fielding in NZ

Bangladesh cricket team quietly returned to Dhaka this morning from their 40-day tour of New Zealand, where they were whitewashed in both ODIs and T20s.

The men in red and green were expected to break their drought in New Zealand, stretching back to the first time they toured there in 2001. Instead they lost all three ODIs and all three T20s by big margins. 

Hence there weren't too many Tigers available to talk to media at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. Left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed, who had a decent outing in the T20s, was the only one willing to talk on behalf of the team.

The young spinner said they needed more time to adjust to the conditions while the clear sky and different weather were the main reasons behind poor fielding.

"Had we stayed for one and a half to two months, we could have improved in fielding. Because the sky is very clear there and the weather is very different there. We needed more time to adapt to the conditions," the young spinner said, adding that they wanted to win and that they should have won but they couldn't.

Head coach Rusell Domingo and fielding coach Ryan Cook did not return with the team as they went for a vacation to South Africa. Bowling coach Ottis Gibson and batting coach Jonathan Lewis, however, accompanied the team to Dhaka. 

Pacer Mustafizur Rahman is likely to fly off from the airport to India to start his quarantine ahead of joining Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL.