'Mash timed his retirement really well'

Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha stopped by for a chat on the boundary and shared his thoughts on captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza’s retirement from T20s, alongside other things such as the Tigers' performance in the shortest format of the game and Imrul Kayes' inclusion in the side for the second match.

"Mashrafe has been a great servant for Bangladesh cricket and has done a wonderful job. I think he has timed his retirement really well," Hathurusingha began.

"There is no World Cup around and there is nothing to look forward to [in this format], so now the young players can come in and get their chance. I think Mashrafe has done really well."

He was also asked about the Tigers' weakness in the shortest format of the game, and he pointed to the lack of playing T20s as the reason behind their performances.

"Bangladesh doesn't play much T20 cricket. We have just started playing T20s in the domestic circuit and our players have not played that much T20. Unless there is a World Cup, we don't play that format. We are a long way away [from being up to par] but we are building a team."

Speaking about Imrul Kayes and his inclusion in the side, the Sri Lankan said: "He was there [in the team] for a long time, but got injured in India. Then, Soumya came in and did really well. He [Soumya] is an in-form batsman and this is a good headache to have.

"We are very happy with the way things have gone. We’ve played well in Test cricket and winning a Test here in Sri Lanka is good for us. We also thought we were the better side in the ODI series."