‘We are trying our best but nothing is going our way’

On a day when Bangladesh were totally outplayed and had their limitations in terms of skill and execution completely exposed by a quality England side, the captain or coach of the losing party would have been expected to face the media. But surprisingly, the rather media-shy Nasum Ahmed was sent out to face the heat yesterday.

Although Nasum was the top performer for the Tigers with 19 runs off nine balls with the bat and a wicket to his name, the 26-year-old was certainly not the appropriate person to explain the shortcomings that led to the thrashing eight-wicket defeat.

Normally soft-spoken, Nasum's body language and approach was defensive while facing a barrage of bouncers from the journalists during the post-match press conference and he seemed to surrender to almost every question that was asked.

"We've been lacking a good start; on these wickets it gets difficult later on. We are more skilled hitters than power hitters, we don't want to change that because we believe we can post good totals. We need to reassess and come up with a good plan."

— Mahmudullah Riyad Bangladesh T20I captain

When asked why the team had failed to execute and were totally outplayed, Nasum said: "We tried to win the game. If a batsman or a bowler could perform well, there is a chance to win a game. We are trying but it's not happening. We were unable to execute our plans."

Bangladesh's batting has remained one of the biggest areas of concern throughout the tournament, especially in the Powerplay overs, where the Tigers once again failed to get going, adding only 27 runs and losing three wickets.

When asked whether the team discuss problems and look for solutions, Nasum repeated the same words that fans have become accustomed to: "We discuss everything among ourselves. We are unable to utilise the first six overs with the bat, which is the reason we are lagging behind. We are unable to score frequently but at the same time, we lose wickets at regular intervals. We do discuss such things and everyone is trying their best but nothing is going our way."

A tense Nasum, who even started to sweat at one point, informed that the Tigers were optimistic about getting a win and flipping the script.

"We still have three more matches to come and if we are able to win one game, I think we have the chance to do better in the next two as well. If we can win a game, it will definitely boost our confidence. We played good cricket in Oman despite losing the first game and we managed to reach the Super 12 by winning the next two matches. We all want to do well but nothing is going our way, it's bad luck," he said.