The Tigers had outclassed their East African opponents in their previous two matches but they had to fight hard to manage the series deciding win.

And it was nothing other than the familiar top order hiccup, which forced them to lose their way slightly before capturing the match.

The Bangladesh team also accepted that their flaws, especially during the batting, dampened their series win against the comparatively weaker opponents.

"I agree that our performance was not up to the mark if you consider the performances of previous two matches. Our top order failed to keep up their momentum but I think our main failure was not to bat the full 50 overs," said vice-captain Khaled Mashud, who attended the post-match briefing in the absence of Habibul Bashar.

Bangladesh were bowled out with 4.1 overs still remaining.

The openers failed to deliver like the previous encounters, when Javed Omar peculiarly shuffled for an on-drive against Thomas Odoyo but only top edged a simple catch to David Obuya at mid-off with the scoreboard reading eight.

Aftab Ahmed (24) initially looked dangerous but him, captain Bashar (0), who came to bat for the first time in the series, and Mohammad Ashraful (3) frustrated their side with soft dismissals which saw Bangladesh reduced to 68 for 4 at one stage.

"I think initially we failed to read the slow and low pitch which caused the damage but Nafees and Rafique repaired the innings nicely and then I had a very good partnership with Kapali. We were in a position to score 270 to 280 but unfortunately we failed to play the full overs which was frustrating," said Mashud, who was associated in an 89-run seventh wicket stand with Kapali.

The dismissal of Shahriar Nafees was particularly frustrating, although he was the top scorer, as he looked well set to carry his bat through the innings before he mistakenly attempted a rash slog sweep to spoil his initiatives.

"But I must say that through all of these frustrating things we had something to cheer about as we proved that we can win a match from any situation. We are looking to win the last game to complete a whitewash. Actually our heads never fell during the match which is the most positive thing," the former Bangladesh skipper added.

Mashud also heaped praise on his spinners as he thought that they made the difference in the match.

"Our spinners made the difference in the pitch as they have the experience to exploit such kind of surface. Rafique once again came up with the goods to make us successful," he said.

The 35-year-old spinner Mohammad Rafique was also delighted with his first ever five-wicket haul for 47 in his 88th one-day match.

"I was adjudged man of the match in our first one-day victory against Kenya in India for my batting but I must say today's performance is the best one against them because we are now a Test playing nation that's why a defeat in the match could be immense," said Rafique.

"I am mentally strong which is the key to my success. I always love to compete with my young colleagues to be successful in the international level. I also never felt any pressure on the field and that too helped me a lot," he added.

There was bad news for Bangladesh though in that Alok Kapali is likely to miss the fourth and final one-day game against Kenya to be held on Saturday at the same venue.

Kapali, who made valuable 55 as a super-sub player, twisted his ankle during fielding and had to leave the field.

"We will know his exact condition after his X-ray tomorrow. But he is now looking good and I think he will be okay," said captain Habibul Bashar.