Bangladesh played some really good cricket as a team: Dhoni
Mirpur (Bangladesh), June 19 (IANS) India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni hailed hosts Bangladesh for putting up an all-round show to outclass India in all departments in the first One-Day International (ODI) at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here on Thursday.
Chasing a stiff target of 308, India folded for 228 in 46 overs. Bangladesh left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman (5/50) made a dream debut to fashion the victory for the home team.
"It was a disappointing loss for us. But Bangladesh played some really good cricket as a team. Right from the first ball they took our bowlers on," Dhoni said at the post match presentation ceremony on Thursday.
The skipper said visitor's slower bowlers did well to restrict Bangladesh to 300, but the batting failed to click on the given day.
"The rain break helped us. It looked like they would score more than 330 but we restricted them to 300, but the batting didn't turn up the way we wanted it to."
"The spinners bowled well, (Suresh) Raina's contribution was important, but disappointed with the way the fast bowlers bowled. The Bangladesh batsmen played the fast bowlers well," he said.
The 33-year-old was impressed by the consistent bowling performance of the hosts and specially by the efforts of spinner Shakib Al-Hasan.
"The Bangladeshi bowlers bowled really well, they used their subtle variations extremely well. They did well in the World Cup as well. Their fast bowlers did well there and they did well here as well."
"We knew Shakib can bowl at anytime of the innings. We will go to the drawing board. It's not the end of the road but we will try harder next time around," Dhoni said.