Bangladesh women's cricket team entered their first-ever bilateral series against Australia on a high following a good run of results in recent series against India and Pakistan at home and South Africa away. Following a 77-run loss in the third T20I which saw Australia whitewash Bangladesh in both ODI and T20I series, Bangladesh head coach Hashan Tillakaratne talked to The Daily Star's Abdullah Al Mehdi on the Tigresses' difficult road ahead, with India series and Asia Cup to come before the T20 World Cup at home.

The Daily Star (DS): Your assessment of the series?

Hashan Tillakaratne (HT): Well, it's been disappointing. It's about the way we played; and I don't mind losing as we are playing the top side in the world. How we played against them or about challenging them, that's been disappointing.

We are a better side than this. Much better. We couldn't apply ourselves in the middle in the way we practice.

DS: Was batting in focus before the series since that was perhaps a problem area?

HT: I thought they [batters] had a reasonable series against South Africa. Playing against a top side, you are taught to use your game experience and they [oppositions] challenge you as well. No excuses but it's the first time we played Australia in a bilateral series, but the way we applied ourselves, I don't think that's excusable.

DS: Are you back to square one, from a morale point of view?

HT: We have to go back to our drawing board and see where we went wrong and come back strongly, because no one has performed very well against Australia. Except for one or two performances, everyone failed miserably. We want to have a chat with the girls first and do an honest debrief, see what went wrong, and take it from there. There is no point chopping and changing because we must understand that we invested a lot on these girls, and I am sure that with time they will make a comeback.

DS: What seems to be the problem right now?

HT: I think they did not express themselves or apply themselves despite the fact that they are very skillful girls.

DS: Fear factor came in because the opposition was Australia?

HT: I think so. Fear factor and fear of failure [was there] because this is the first time playing a bilateral series against Australia. I haven't seen this when we played India, South Africa and Pakistan. They were a little reluctant to express themselves against Australia, and they were a little scared, and that is where we went wrong against Australia.

DS: What positives are you taking?

HT: Of course, playing against them is a big positive and we know how they raise the bar and, if we have to challenge or compete against the top sides, what are the areas we need to improve. As a part of the coaching staff, I would say the girls need to improve considerably because it's not easy even though we are very down and disappointed. But we have to come back.