Mahmudullah, the captain of the Bangladesh cricket team for the T20I series against India, reckons that not being able to beat India in the T20Is before was a “mental barrier” and he is happy that the team has broken it.
India were always a stronger side than Bangladesh in the shortest format of the game, but, there were a couple of occasions in the past where they were very close to beating India.
One such occasion was in the WT20 in 2016 where Bangladesh needed just 2 runs off the last three balls of the game to beat India at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, but they somehow crumbled from there and lost 3 wickets on 3 balls to fall short of the target.
They had an opportunity again in the Nidahas Trophy 2018 which was played in Sri Lanka. India and Bangladesh were the two finalists in that tournament and India seemed to be out of the game at one stage as the required run rate went past 15.
But, Dinesh Karthik, batting at no. 7 for India, played an absolute blinder and scored 29 off just 8 balls to get India over the line. Karthik had finished that game by hitting a six off the last ball.
Those two defeats were soul-crushing and demoralizing for Bangladesh, but the way they played in Delhi to finally have one over India in the shortest format, they would cherish that.
Talking about beating India for the first time in T20Is, Mahumudullah said, “The mental barrier you speak of, we might [have] come out of that, even if a little bit. I think in T20 cricket, this sort of chance comes often and it depends on how we keep calm and execute our skills to try and win the game.”
Mahmudullah himself was at the crease with Mushfiqur Rahim when Bangladesh crossed the victory mark in Delhi.
