Bangladesh wicketkeeper batsman Nurul Hasan believes that the early exit of their middle order batsmen cost them a 21-run loss against Pakistan in the first game of the tri-nation in Christchurch on Friday.

Pursing a moderate 168, the Tigers were restricted to 146-8 after their middle order batsmen completely failed to regain the tempo of the game following the quick dismissal of the opening pair for 37 in 5.5 overs.

Although Liton Das and Afif Hossain looked pretty keen to overcome the early loss, forming a 50-run partnership coming at 3 and 4 however the duo also failed to meet the teem demand after they had been cut for 35 off 26 balls and 25 off 23 balls, respectively.

In the late order, Yasir Ali made a flurry unbeaten 21 off 42, but it couldn’t help his side on the back of the lack of assistance from his top and middle-order fellows.

However, Nurul, who captained the Tigers due to the unavailability of Shakib Al Hasan because of his travel fatigue, admitted that despite the fall of their batsmen, their bowlers could bowl a bit well.

‘You know, our bowlers bowled a little bit well, but what I am saying is, we need to improve in a few areas, and on the batting side, we lost a few wickets in the middle over that cost us,’ said Nurul after the match.

Nurul further underscored upgrading in a few areas to be concluded with stirring performances in the next ties in the ongoing competition and also for the approaching ICC T20 World Cup starting on October 16 in Australia.

‘We have to improve a few areas for the next matches. You know, we have the World Cup as well, so we should improve on what can help us in the global event.’