Tamim rues dropped chances as Tigers concede series

Bangladesh skipper Tamim Iqbal rued the missed opportunities in the field, saying that the team lost its best chance to beat New Zealand in the second ODI on Tuesday.

Bangladesh, after scoring just 131 in the three-match series opener, posted a respectable 271 for 6 on the back of Tamim's 78 along with Mohammad Mithun's unbeaten 73. The bowlers backed up that performance early on by reducing the hosts to 53 for 3 in the 11th over but paid the price for their sloppy fielding from there on as they put down several important catches at various stages of the game.

Latham, who was not out on 110 off 108, was reprieved twice on 58 and 67 in the space of just five balls when offspinner Mahedi Hasan missed an easy return catch and thereafter Mehidy Hasan Miraz put down a catch at backward point off Taskin Ahmed. Bangladesh could have still put pressure on New Zealand had Mushfiqur Rahim not shelled a catch of James Neesham behind the wicket when he was on just 3 and the hosts needed another 103 runs at that point.

"We couldn't have had a better opportunity," said Tamim. "It was something we should have won. Such opportunities do not always come outside your country. The way we batted today, the wicket was a little slow and difficult... 261 was definitely a good score. The way we started with their three wickets for 50 runs. Then the game was almost under control but we missed two chances. If we could've taken those chances then we could have won this match." Tamim said.

"We were thinking of nothing but to win and were disappointed that we could not take advantage of such an opportunity. I think missing those two catches was the turning point of the game."

Tamim added that even though Bangladesh showed marked improvement in their batting, it hardly impressed him as he is getting "tired" of taking positives from their defeats. This was Bangladesh's 15th successive defeat in New Zealand.

"As a captain it is tiring to say the same old thing like 'we are taking a lot of positives from this match'. We are not here to show marked improvement, we are here to win," he said.

Bangladesh will take on New Zealand in the dead-rubber third ODI at Wellington on March 26 with the hosts leading the series 2-0.-Cricbuzz