Head coach of Bangladesh Chandika Hathurusingha praised India’s strategy in the match and lamented his side’s loss in the shortened Kanpur Test. Bangladesh lost by seven wickets in the fourth-shortest Test match in history, lasting just 173.2 overs, due to a batting collapse on the fifth day.

Bangladesh hoped to bat for a long period of time to save the game but they only lasted one session on Tuesday (October 1). They lost Shadman Islam, Litton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, and captain Najmul Hossain Shanto in a span of twenty-one minutes.

“The defeat is really hurting us in terms of our performance. (India’s approach) was really not seen before. All credit to Rohit and the Indian team for coming up with that approach, and making a match of it. We actually didn’t react quick enough (to India’s approach),” Hathurusingha said.

“Batting was disappointing in this series. Some players did well in the last series. We have not been performing to our potential in the last few series. One reason for the batting was the quality of the opposition. The skill level displayed in this series was very high. We are taking a lot of learnings from this. This is the best team. Playing India in India is the toughest assignment. We know how much we need to improve,” he added. After winning a historic series in Pakistan, Bangladesh traveled to India, although Hathurusingha acknowledged that they were aware of the difficult task that awaited them there.

“We came here after beating Pakistan but we knew that the challenges would be steep in India. It won’t be a good thing if I attach our feelings to our performance. We didn’t get too high on ourselves for winning in Pakistan, so we shouldn’t go down too much after this result. We knew what we did well to win in Pakistan and we know what we couldn’t do here to compete with these guys,” he opined.

“I think we were completely outplayed in this series. I saw the difference in skill levels, so we need to improve. Having said that, we didn’t play to our best potential. We are disappointed with it. There’s no point putting pressure on every individual player and their every decision in the middle, if we are not getting the right support,” he added.

Regarding if Shakib had already played his final Test, the head coach was unable to give a clear answer. Before agreeing to play in that series, the star all-rounder asked for security assurance for the home Tests against South Africa.

“I haven’t heard anything to say that this is the last time (that Shakib is playing). As far as I know, he is playing the South Africa series,” Hathurusingha said. “I think succession plans are always there, especially at this stage of his career. We are all surprised that he said that (South Africa) is his last series. You are not getting a like-for-like replacement for someone like Shakib.”

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