Following a five-wicket defeat against Afghanistan in the first ODI in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, Bangladesh’s captain Mehdiy Hasan Miraz said the failure to build partnerships cost them the match. 

Bangladesh batted first after winning the toss, but were only able to post 221, a total that Mehdiy said was at least 40 runs short. 

The Bangladesh captain admitted that early wickets and the inability to steady the innings once again proved decisive for them. 

“We lost too many wickets in the first 15 overs,” he said after the match. “The wicket had a bit of turn, and we struggled during that period. The way Towhid Hridoy batted was really good, but when the crunch moments came, we couldn’t hold our partnerships together.”

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Towhid Hridoy scored 56, and Mehidy posted 60 on their way to lifting Bangladesh briefly to 175 for five. But Rashid Khan and Azmatullah Omarzai triggered a collapse. 

The last five batters added only 46 runs to the board. 

“We are a good bowling side and don’t usually give away many runs, but when you’re 30 or 40 short, it becomes difficult. The main issue is that we’re not finishing our innings well,” Mehidy added.

He also said that the team had targeted at least 260, which he felt would have given the bowlers a fighting chance.

While replying, Afghanistan rarely looked in trouble. Openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibarahim Zadran provided a solid foundation. 

Rahmanullah ended up hitting a fifty, and Rahmat Shah also scored 50 to guide them to an easy win after losing all the matches of the T20I series. 

“We know the mistakes we made. We need to learn quickly and fix them before the next match,” he said. “I’m confident the boys will bounce back.”

Bangladesh now need to win the second match on Saturday at the same venue to keep the chance of winning the series alive.