Privilege to play the world's best: Pothas on facing India

Bangladesh fielding coach Nick Pothas on Friday admitted that “world's best team” India put his side under tremendous pressure throughout the Test and T20I series, but he wants to leverage it as a learning experience.

Bangladesh came to India riding high on their recent Test series win over Pakistan, but were quickly brought down to earth by the home side, emphatically grabbing both Test and T20I rubbers.

“When you look at the bowling and the batting, one thing India will always do to you is put you under immense pressure because of the level of skill they have. India lets you know where you have to improve,” said Pothas in the pre-match press meet.

India won the first two matches at Gwalior and New Delhi to take an unassailable 2-0 lead, rendering the third T20I here on Saturday inconsequential.

But Pothas said Bangladesh need to be “honest” in their self-assessment after such a tour where they suffered some heavy defeats.

“We are very fortunate to be touring India because you can get a lot of learning done. And the learning has to be honest. The learning is how do you absorb pressure for longer periods of time?

“How do you read the game better under pressure for longer periods of time? But most importantly is how do you prepare? And that has to evolve, that has to change all the time,” he added.

“But it is a privilege to play in India because when you play the world's best team, they help you understand where you need to improve.”

Pothas held “underperforming” batsmen responsible for his side's defeat in the three-match T20I series against India.

“We are playing against a phenomenal opposition in their own country. Yes, we have some experience along the way but I agree with you, from a batting point of view, we have underperformed according to our expectation.

“You can take performance and an outcome as two different conversations but, yes, we would have liked to get 170, 180 here,” he noted.

Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah will soon retire from international cricket, and Pothas hoped that the veterans would be around Bangladesh cricket to pass on their wisdom to coming generation.

“I would imagine having played international cricket for thelength of time they have and performed to the high level that they have, I think the most important thing that we need to acknowledge is that they have forged a path for young cricketers to follow.

“With any luck they are going to be around to help in whatever capacity but to be able to pass on that experience to make the next generation better.

“Bangladesh has been very fortunate to have cricketers of their calibre play for that length of time and as a group and as a country we wish them the best of luck,” he said.