No excuses from Nurul despite narrow Bangladesh T20I loss
Despite an excellent effort with the bat, Bangladesh fell to a 17-run defeat against Zimbabwe in Harare in the opening match of their three-game series and have now lost 13 of their last 14 T20I matches.
Nurul himself contributed an unbeaten 42 for Bangladesh in the loss, but his team was unable to successfully chase down Zimbabwe's hefty target of 205/3 after the hosts had won the toss and elected to bat first.
Bangladesh allowed Wesley Madhevere (67*) and Sikandar Raza (65*) to score 77 runs from the final five overs of Zimbabwe's innings and Nural said this may have proved the difference between the two sides.
"I think we failed to bowl in good areas in the last five to six overs and they batted really well," Nurul said.
"There are the areas (bowling in the last five to six overs) that we need to improve before the next game."
Nurul only took over the T20I captaincy on the eve of the tour of Zimbabwe and promised his team would play 'fearless cricket' during his reign as skipper.
There were plenty of positive signs that Bangladesh could take from the clash as they managed to score 188/6 in reply, but ultimately it was another loss for the Asian side.
"I don't want to show any excuses whether it is batting, bowling or fielding it is all about us and we have to improve," Nurul added.
"Everyone tried their level best and it was a 50-50 game,"
"Chasing down over 200 runs would have been a big deal.
"When we came to the dressing room we were confident that we can chase down the total as the wicket was good but as I said we have lot to improve as far as bowling in the last five to six overs are concerned."
"I feel if we had given 10 to 15 runs less than it could have been a different game all together."
The second game of Bangladesh's series against Zimbabwe will be held on Sunday, with the third and final match on Tuesday.