Nearly a decade after Bangladesh’s heartbreaking loss to India in the semifinal of the 2016 T20 World Cup, former captain Mahmudullah has said that multiple players shed tears in the dressing room in the minutes after the conclusion of the match. The game, played at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, is remembered as one of the most exciting finishes in T20 World Cup history. Bangladesh needed to score just two runs from the last three balls and, quite sensationally, lost three wickets allowing an improbable 1-run win for India. Speaking on the Simply Sayeed podcast, the veteran all-rounder revealed that dressing room was devastated after the loss suffered by Bangladesh. “I do not know (what happened in that game against India). That was tragic. It was very heartbreaking. I think it was extremely heartbreaking. We cried on the ground. When we got back to the hotel we cried. Me, Mushfiqur Rahim, we all cried. Many other members were crying as well because we were so close to beating India,” Mahmudullah said. The 40-year-old said that the whole experience was a “life-changing one” and he was at the time wishing that they had hit the one boundary that would’ve won them the match. “But personally, in my life that was a very life-changing lesson for me. You drag it to the last ball and you finish it off. At that particular moment I was thinking that if we just hit one boundary we would win. To be honest, that was dumb,” he said. The match remains statistically one of the closest finishes in T20 World Cup history. India had posted a total of 146 after 20 overs whereas Bangladesh fell short by one run, registering 145. Bangladesh had performed exceptionally well in chasing down – aided by the efforts of Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim – but the game ended dramatically with a key run-out from MS Dhoni off the last ball. The final over bowled by Hardik Pandya and high-quality field placements resulted in India pulling one of their more famous wins under the captaincy of Dhoni.
‘We cried on the ground’: Mahmudullah opens up on 2016 T20 World Cup heartbreak vs India
