Bangladesh were weighed down by the expectation of series whitewash of India, says captain Mashrafe

Captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza thinks the expectation of a whitewash backfired for Bangladesh because it put the team under extra pressure in the third ODI against India.

The Tigers sealed their first-ever series against India 2-1 by winning the first two matches before losing the final ODI by 77 runs on Wednesday.

After India posted a big total of 317 for 6, Bangladesh folded for 240 in 47 overs in their chase at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur.

Whenever Bangladesh win the first match of a series, the talk of a potential series sweep begins to do the rounds.

After two straights wins, by 79 runs and six wickets, against their neighbours, a potential third successive series whitewash after a 5-0 hammering of Zimbabwe and a 3-0 rout of Pakistan was on the cards.

“No one wants to lose any match - much less the way we lost today,” Mashrafe said after Wednesday’s match.

He thinks, instead of releasing the stress, winning the series with a match to spare put them under more weight with the idea of series sweep.

“The pressure we have at the start of a series rises before the last match. The idea of ‘Banglawash’ is raised after winning one or two matches.

“We could have played this match more positively.”

Mashrafe, however, conceded that his side’s body language in Wednesday’s match was not quite right.

“Maybe it happened because we didn’t get the breakthroughs we needed. But we have to learn from these things as the players will face partnerships and situations like these in future.

“We weren’t too far off in this match. But we failed to produce our best.”