Bangladesh not far from being a top team in T20Is: Sriram

Bangladesh's technical consultant Sridharan Sriram believes Bangladesh are not far away from being a top team in the T20 format as they have already found the formula to challenge bigger teams on a regular basis.

Bangladesh put up a good show in the tri-nation series in New Zealand recently and in the World Cup, which marked their progress in this format, stated the technical consultant. 

Bangladesh have already won two matches in the Super 12s of the T20 World Cup, which is their best result in the mega event and also came quite close to beating giants India, something that Sriram sees as a significant stride.

"I think to come that close, if at the start of the game had anybody said that we'll lose to India by five runs, I think anybody would take it, so I think we got ourselves in an opportunity where we're could have beaten India but we were not able to cross the line," Sriram said.

"But having come too close, the boys gained a lot of confidence. I think eventually just by losing by five runs, the boys just - I think everyone was disappointed in the dressing room that they could not cross the line, and they realised what a golden opportunity that they missed. It's great learning for them. It gives the team a lot of self-belief that if you can challenge a team like India and come so close, we are not far away."

Bangladesh's match against India was marred by some controversy as vice-captain Nurul Hasan accused star India batter Virat Kohli of "fake fielding" which potentially could cost India five penalty runs according to him.

Also, Bangladesh had the reservation to play after the rain break because they thought the ground was not adequately dried up. But umpires didn't pay heed to any of this.

However, Sriram didn't show it as the excuse for their five-run defeat to India.

"We are not here to offer any excuses. I did speak to the fourth umpire as soon as it happened, but I think it was the on-field umpire's call, and that's what we were told, but we're not here to offer any excuses," he remarked.

"It was quite frantic for that brief 10-12 minutes, which is understandable. I think the boys, nine runs an over or 9.75 runs an over, definitely, I think the pressure got to them a little bit."

Sriram said they are confident to beat Pakistan and they are not thinking about the semifinal or anything else even though they are still mathematically in the race.

"I've been very clear about this. We're just taking it one game at a time, planning for one opposition at a time. Every game we want to go, we obviously want to win it, but we're aware of what challenges Pakistan present. We played them in New Zealand just recently, and we have high respect for that team, so we're going to turn up and be at our best on that day," he added.