Bangladesh take the positives despite final warm-up defeat

• Sunil Joshi not worried by loss in Cardiff
• Bangladesh will need to improve chasing big totals

Bangladesh spin coach Sunil Joshi was determined to accentuate the positives after India secured a 95-run victory in Cardiff in their final ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 warm-up.

The world No.2 side made a sluggish start after Bangladesh won the toss and elected to field.

But centuries from KL Rahul and MS Dhoni – who came together in a 164-run sixth wicket partnership put the match beyond reach.

Bangladesh, whose coaching team includes West Indian legend Courtney Walsh, didn’t bring on their spinners until midway through their innings.

Captain Mashrafe Mortaza did not give any bowler more than eight overs and used nine in total, experimentation clearly the order of the day ahead of their opening fixture against South Africa at The Oval on Sunday.

“There are lots of positives, we’ve got very close to an Indian team in our last two outings,” said Joshi, who made 69 ODI appearances for India between 1996 and 2001.

“It was a practice, a warm-up, so we experimented with a few things. We wanted to see how our bowlers shaped up against different batsman at different stages of the game.

“It was a friendly game so we wanted to learn lessons and I think we have. They were 104-4 and we had an opportunity at that point but Rahul and Dhoni played very well.”

Bangladesh, who made their debut at the World Cup when England last hosted in 1999, arrived on the back of a morale-boosting three consecutive wins over the West Indies in the Tri Series in Ireland.

Just over 40 miles down the road in Bristol, the Windies made a massive 421 runs to beat New Zealand by 91 runs.

And Joshi admits Bangladesh need to get better at chasing big totals if they are to be competitive in the weeks ahead.

Indeed they have only knocked off targets of 300 plus three times – and chased down 250 targets just 11 times since making their ODI debut in 1986.

“There are always things to improve,” added Joshi, who reported no injuries but admitted some frustration at losing their last eight wickets for just 95 runs.

“Rahul batted very well and hopefully he won’t bat like that again when we play in Birmingham.

“Dhoni just allowed our bowlers to bowl to his strengths. Momentum is very important and it gets the tone of the game.”