Top four fighting 'fire with fire' cost Bangladesh - Neil McKenzie

Both sides went full tilt with aggression, but it was West Indies who came out on top against Bangladesh in Sylhet. Player of the match Sheldon Cottrell, whose four-wicket haul set up West Indies' eight-wicket win in the first T20I, said that they tried to be aggressive with every ball. Bangladesh's batting consultant Neil McKenzie said that the batsmen shouldn't have tried to fight "fire with fire" against their bowling, rather just use that pace to score runs.

"I don't think we learned quick enough," McKenzie said. "There was extra pace with Cottrell and Thomas opening the innings. We knew they were going to hit the deck hard. Shakib [Al Hasan] showed that we could have used the pace a little bit more. I think we just tried to be too aggressive, trying to hit the ball in front of square when we could have used the pace.

"If you look at those three dismissals, you have Liton Das coming down the track at a guy bowling 140kph. It takes a lot of guts, heart and belief in yourself. Tamim [Iqbal] has been in great form. He is trying to hit it way in front of square. Soumya [Sarkar] also tried to do the same thing. I just think that it is just the nature of the game that you try to match aggression with aggression. I am not worried about the way they played the short ball. I think it was overconfidence, trying to fight fire with fire. Sometimes you have to deflect more than attack."

McKenzie said that rather than trying to meet the short balls early, as Tamim, Liton, Soumya and Shakib did, they should have played it slightly later, and place it past the square-leg umpire. All four got caught trying to pull the ball.

"Looking to stay on top of the ball, trying to hit it the square-leg umpire and behind, using the pace, was a better shot on that surface. There was extra bounce in that wicket," he said.

McKenzie said that they needed another batsman, preferably in the top order, to get a score similar to Shakib's 61 off 43 balls, for Bangladesh to have a bigger total than 129. "It wasn't our day. We have to come up with solid individual game plans. We have to ensure that the individual guy make that huge contribution.

"Shakib batted well for his 60-odd. We pride on our top three getting a 60 or 70. It would have taken us a reasonable score to defend," he said.