‘We lost the game in powerplay,’ says Bangladesh’s Das after Sri Lanka defeat

ABU DHABI: Bangladesh captain Litton Das emphasised that their six-wicket defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka in the fifth match of the ACC Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2025 here on Saturday was the outcome of their dismal performance in the batting powerplay.

Put into bat first, Bangladesh were rocked by Sri Lanka’s ruthless bowling performance and could only muster 30 runs for the loss of three wickets in the powerplay.

Although Shamim Hossain and Jaker Ali lifted their final total to 139/5 with an unbeaten 86-run partnership, it was insufficient for their bowlers to defend as Sri Lanka romped to a comfortable six-wicket victory.

The Bangladesh captain, while speaking at the post-match presentation, acknowledged the wicket was 'pretty good' to bat on, but rued their failure in the batting powerplay cost them the match.

“I thought we lost the game in powerplay. Wicket was pretty good to bat on. 170-180 would've been a different game,” said Das.

The wicketkeeper batter also expressed his displeasure with his team’s bowling and fielding while defending a modest total.

“On a good wicket if you score 140, you have to bowl and field well. We didn't do that,” Das continued.

The six-wicket defeat caused Bangladesh to slip to third position in the Group B standings of the Asia Cup 2025 as they now have two points from as many games and a net run rate of negative 0.650.

Bangladesh will now face Afghanistan in their last group-stage match on Tuesday, which Das described as a ‘do or die’ game, as a defeat would majorly dent their chances to qualify for the Super Fours.