The Tigers lost the third and final match by 88 runs.
Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, the captain, said they have to find a way to perform better, with the World Cup just around the corner.
“Despite losing the first two matches by big margins, we were positive about the third match. It was important for us to stick to the basic game. Instead of doing that, we played as we did in the first two games,” Mashrafe told the post-match press conference.
He said they lost three-four wickets at the start of the innings as they did in Asia Cup last year. “Still, we have to think positively. We have to find a way to end this kind of [poor] show ahead of the World Cup,” the captain said, adding that Bangladesh may have to play on similar surface in Ireland in their next assignment.
In the third match, Bangladesh won the toss and decided to bowl first. The hosts posted 330 for six wickets with the help of three fifties from Henry Nicholls, Ross Taylor and Tom Latham.
Tigers lost three wickets in two runs and subsequently tumbled for 242/10 in 50 overs. Sabbir Rahman was the only one to show batting prowess hitting 102 – his first ODI ton.
The team’s star batsmen Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar failed to impress again. Tamim scored 10 runs in three matches with a duck while Liton scored three and Soumya struck 52.
Poor performances from the top order played a key role in Bangladesh’s series defeat. But captain Masrhafe is optimistic.
“We have got some runs from the middle and lower middle-order. Sabbir struck a hundred today. He also scored 40-plus runs in the previous game. Mithun scored two fifties in the first two games, and Saifuddin also contributed with the bat and bowled well too,” the skipper noted.
“Overall, we have these things to count as positive [outcomes] from this series. But, we need big contributions from the top-order,” the captain said.