'We couldn’t take wickets in the middle overs'

Mehidy Hasan Miraz's experience as a captain at the international level is new. Although he has captained at age-group and domestic cricket levels, he led the national side for the first time in the third match of the series against Afghanistan. Unfortunately, his debut as captain did not go well, as Bangladesh lost the series-deciding match by five wickets.

As the captain, Miraz had to explain the loss at the end of the match. On the presentation stage, in broken English, Miraz conveyed, "It was tough. The boys did well. Riyad bhai and I managed to build a partnership. The bowlers tried hard, but we couldn't take wickets in the middle overs."

Bangladesh posted 244 runs, and Afghanistan, chasing this target, were at 84 for 3 in the 21st over. However, for the fourth wicket, Bangladesh had to wait until the 39th over. During this period, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Azmatullah Omarzai put on 100 runs from 111 balls.

Miraz believes Bangladesh lost the match in that middle-over phase. He reiterated this view later, saying, "In the last two matches, we saw there was enough spin on the wicket. That's why we decided to bat first.

Later, with the dew, the ball was coming onto the bat better. Credit to them. They played very well, especially Gurbaz and Omarzai. We didn't take wickets in the middle overs. We should have taken wickets at that time. If we had done that, we could have made a comeback."