Pakistan were struggling at 51 for 5 when Nurul Hasan and Mahedi Hasan put down Shaheen Shah Afridi in the 12th over. Afridi struck two sixes in a 13-ball 19, shifting momentum. Soon after, Parvez Hossain Emon dropped Mohammad Nawaz on nought; Nawaz capitalised with 25 off 15, including two sixes and a four.
"When we dropped Shaheen and Nawaz, that's where the game changed. Before that, we were in control. Some of the catches maybe [had something to do with the lights] but I don't think the ones we dropped had anything to do with the lights." Simmons said.
Simmons argued the batting let Bangladesh down more than the conditions. "We didn't have to chase it in any [particular number of] overs. We just had to win the game," he said. "It was just bad decisions. All of the teams have that at some point. It was us today. We didn't make the best shot selections."
The coach also stressed the absence of captain Litton Das, missing his second match with a side strain. "We just chased 160 [169 vs Sri Lanka] two games ago. We are not a team that can lose Tanzid [Hasan] and captain [Litton] in one game and just fill [the void] like that. We are getting to that stage, we are not there yet. Losing the captain in such good form is a big thing for us. We chased 160 [169] on the same wicket, where we made better batting decisions. Batting order doesn't say we batted well or badly. We made bad decisions today."
Bangladesh shuffled their line-up, promoting Mahedi Hasan to No. 4. Simmons defended the call: "You look at it as someone batting at No 4. I look at it as someone taking on the pacers in the powerplay. He could have taken on the pacers more than if he went in the lower order against the spinners. I had Jaker [Ali] and Shamim [Hossain] down there, who could take on the spinners."
He admitted strike-rates remain an issue, but partnerships were the bigger flaw in this loss. "The [strike-rate] gap will reduce the more we play at the international level, the guys will know what to do at this level," Simmons said. "I agree that our strike-rate isn't up there, but we are up there in six-hitting. I don't think it is about our ability to score quickly. We have to bat for longer and put on partnerships."
Bangladesh’s campaign ended with wins over Afghanistan and Sri Lanka before consecutive defeats to India and Pakistan. Simmons still highlighted positives: "[Saif Hassan] is definitely the biggest positive from this [campaign]. The other one is how our bowlers did in the whole tournament. They were spot-on, every game."
