Skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto acknowledged Bangladesh’s shortcoming with the bat and the failure to give bowlers enough runs to defend during their 7-wicket defeat in the T20I series opener against India on Sunday. The aggression that was displayed by the Test team in Kanpur certainly affected India’s young T20I team. After being put to bat, Bangladesh batters toiled hard to put runs on the board while facing a young Indian bowling side. The powerplay turned out to be a dry spell with the bat for Bangladesh. The openers misfired in their attempt to pile up runs on the board. Arshdeep Singh stung Bangladesh twice as the visitors crawled their way to 39/2 after the first six overs.

Bangladesh’s plan to play “positive cricket” flopped with India’s bowlers increasing the intensity with each passing over. Shanto addressed their struggle in the powerplay and felt the need to approach the second T20I with a “proper plan”.

“Yes, I think we didn’t start well. In T20, the first six overs are important, but we didn’t do well. The plan was to play positive cricket, but we had to manage some overs and how we wanted to approach it. Looks like we didn’t have much plan, but we need to do a proper plan in the next match,” Shanto said in the post-match presentation.

“We need to focus on rotating the strike. T20 is not only about hitting. If we keep wickets in hand, we can get a good score. We didn’t score many runs. Rishad bowled well, and Fizz was also good, but we didn’t have enough runs,” he added.

Bangladesh’s tepid outing with the bat made it challenging for them to put a massive total on the board. Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s late cameo of 35* runs propelled Bangladesh’s score to 127.

In reply, India’s aggression saw them chase down the target with more than eight overs to spare.

Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hasan Shanto on Sunday described his team’s first-ever Test win over Pakistan as a “special one” in the given circumstances the country is going through. “It was a very important win for us because last month we had a difficult situation in Bangladesh. There are still some problems there but in Bangladesh we support each other and I am happy this win gives them a little bit of a smile on their faces,” he said at the post-match conference after the 10-wicket win.

“We are happy with our performance and we just want to give more joy to our people in the second match as well. It was a special victory for us especially given how we adjusted to the hot conditions and pitch here,” Shanto added.

Shanto said they were confident of winning the match coming into the final day as the pitch was becoming difficult and his team had some experienced spinners and good seamers.

“I think Shakib and Miraz bowled very well today given the conditions and we knew that with a 90-run advantage Pakistan would be under pressure on the final day,” he said.

Shanto said the key to the win was the strong batting display in the first innings.

“Mushfiq bhai played an outstanding innings but overall I think everyone contributed and it was a big team effort. I am happy that all the hard work we put into preparing for this series we have now ticked all the boxes in this match,” he said.

The Bangladesh team reached Pakistan a few days earlier for the series because of the uncertain situation back home.

Asked by a journalist about what senior pro Shakib was going through in the team because of his problems back home, Shanto said what the all-rounder was facing were his personal issues but as a senior team member he is always contributing.