Mahmudullah hopeful Tamim's return will aid hosts

Bangladesh will have their last chance to restore some pride against Sri Lanka on Sunday (February 18) as they stride out for the final T20I in Sylhet. The hosts got some much needed boost with the availability of their regular opener Tamim Iqbal as he returned to business with a 45-minute net session ahead of Sunday's clash.

Bangladesh, who have already been hit hard by the absence of regular Test and T20I skipper Shakib Al Hasan, badly need Tamim to return in order to make their last attempt at earning a win and levelling the series.

Sri Lanka cannot lose the T20I series after they won the opening game to break an eight-match losing streak in the format. Bangladesh will need something special to bounce back, especially after failing to defend their highest T20I total in the series opener.

"I am hopeful we can end the series on the right note. Tamim is fit and he will be okay for tomorrow's match and his availability will always help us," Mahmudullah said.

Their former head coach Chandika Hathurusingha's admission that he formulated Sri Lanka's strategy better having known Bangladesh cricket for long, would have deflated the hosts further. Stand-in-skipper Mahmudullah though believes that if Bangladesh had done their basics right and played according to their plans, these discussions would have not come to the fore.

"If we could play to potential and fulfilled our responsibility, the result could have been different and the whole scenario could have been something else. It is right that the information that he gathered about us during his time frame would be helpful to him but at the same time we failed to execute our plans," the skipper added.

"I think we failed to perform - that was our responsibility, and if only we could have done that, then all these things would have taken a backseat. We just could not play according to our plans and that made us pay.

"He is [a] very capable coach and does have the ability to use the experience that he gathered staying with us but at the same time we have to admit our failure of executing our plan in the middle."