Tigers look to stay united through ‘bad times’

Just a day prior, batting coach Jamie Siddons had been speaking about tail-enders getting some time in nets sessions since the top-order had productive outings in the tri-nation series in New Zealand.

However, after moving to Australia, it has become necessary that their tail wag a bit more, if only for the sake of preserving dignity, especially after Bangladesh slumped to a 62-run loss to Afghanistan in their first warm-up fixture ahead of the World Cup at Brisbane's Allan Border field yesterday. Mosaddek Hossain said after the game that a win would greatly help with team bonding and better performances.

The bowlers managed to restrict Afghanistan to 160 but death overs were once again a worry, with Bangladesh conceding 42 runs in the last three overs. That undid a lot of good work as Taskin Ahmed bagged two inside 14 overs and Hasan Mahmud bagged both Ibrahim Zadran (46 off 39) and Najibullah Zadran (5) to restrict Afghanistan to 118 for five after the 17th over.

Liton Das -- who did not play as precautionary measure after he suffered a strain against Pakistan in the final match of the tri-series against Pakistan last week -- batted in the nets yesterday ahead of a warm-up fixture against South Africa on Wednesday.

But the Tigers' response with the bat was disastrous as Fazalhaq Farooqi bagged three early wickets.

Asked to open alongside Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Najmul Hossain Shanto's stumps were rattled by Farooqi after he made 12 runs before Soumya Sarkar, coming in at number three, fell to Mujeeb Ur Rahman for 1.

Skipper Shakib Al Hasan and Afif Hossain also failed to keep Farooqi at bay, the swing getting the better of them as they fell for 1 and naught respectively.

Stuttering at 47 for seven inside 11 overs, Mosaddek Hossain's 29 off 33 deliveries and Mustafizur Rahman's 10 off 17 balls saw Bangladesh reach 98 for nine in 20 overs, far below the 170 or 180 that Siddons said they would have to target as a batting to win a game.

Mosaddek said that there were no real positives from the game, which was disappointing considering the improvement they had shown despite failing to win a single game in the recently-concluded series in New Zealand.

"Many things can be said. We could not win in the last series and now we have lost the first warm-up match. When you lose, many problems find their way into the open. If we talk about positives, there was nothing from this game. But there were positives in the last series and we are improving as a team," he said.

The all-rounder said that 'failure to execute' was once again the reason they failed and, when asked about whether they were lacking inspiration, he admitted they were going through a bad phase.

"We could restrict a team to 160 but we should have chased it down. As I said, we haven't been doing well as a team. At this time, players and support staff have to stay together as a unit alongside those affiliated with the team. Since we are going through a very bad time, I feel if can rally together, then once we start winning, we will do really well," Mosaddek said.

He was hopeful of turning things around.

"We are not falling behind mentally. We need a moment of victory and if that happens, I believe the whole dynamic will change. I think everyone should believe that," Mosaddek concluded as the Tigers hoped such bad performances were only for warm-up games, not the Super 12 stage of the World Cup.