Bangladesh are lagging behind the top teams in T20Is, says Liton Das

Bangladesh are currently playing against West Indies in a series across formats. Following their defeat in the third T20I, which resulted in a series defeat, Bangladesh opener Liton Das has claimed that they will have to improve their big-hitting ability ahead of the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup. 

The marquee event is scheduled to take place in Australia in October. West Indies won the three-match T20I series against Bangladesh 2-0 after winning the third game by five wickets in Guyana on Thursday (July 7).

Bangladesh posted 163-5, but they couldn't defend that as Nicholas Pooran, and Kyle Mayers's blistering fifties guided the team to victory with ten balls to spare. Pooran was unbeaten on 74 off 39, including five fours and as many sixes, while Mayers scored 55 runs off 38 balls with five sixes and two fours.

"I think in today's game we had some problem as far as the bowling unit's execution is concerned but at the same time you have to give credit to Pooran and Mayers for the way they batted and they hit some good balls too. This is their plus point they play power cricket that we can't and at times it works in the head of the bowlers that they can get hit if it is slightly this way or that way and it have an impact on our bowlers," Liton Das said after the third T20I.

"If I talk about Mayers they are genetically very powerful and that is not the case with me or other members of our team. They can hit sixes whenever they want to which many members of our team are not capable of and we always think to hit fours while we are batting and you can see that we hit maximum boundaries while they hit sixes and this difference is always there," he again stated.

The veteran batter has also added that they struggle in the shortest format. He also believes Bangladesh will have to address their shortcomings and work on their skill, technique and tactics.

"We are far behind good teams when it comes to T20Is and we have to work on different areas, especially as I said we cannot play powerful cricket. Lot of people say T20 is a game of skill along with technique and tactics but I feel there are times when power-hitting is very necessary. I think we are far behind in this aspect (power hitting) and where we will play the World Cup the ground will be big so this (lack of power hitting ability) will make us suffer and if we can practice and play games then we can take good confidence in the World Cup," he also added.

On the other hand, Liton, who smashed 49 runs in the final T20I, expressed that they failed to succeed in the three-match T20I series as their top order players could not step up, which restricted batters down the order from expressing themselves and playing freely too.

"Honestly, we did not bat well. Neither we batted well in the opening game nor did we do well in the second game except for Shakib bhai. I think the conditions were batting friendly and if we batsmen at the top like me, Bijoy bhai and Munim when he played could contribute and fulfill our role then batsmen down the order could have expressed themselves freely. I think due to our (top-order batting failure) we could not catch up," he concluded.