Did his side show any mercy in the first two games? The answer is definitely no. There is no doubt that Rahul Dravid's men played much better cricket yesterday than the first game to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series but it is also true that Bangladesh should have won the first game.

Shastri was true to his words as he arrogantly wanted to portrait a dominating character of his side but his team were definitely pushed hard by Habibul Bashar's side, especially in the first match.

Bangladesh lost yet another one-day series against a top-ranked side but one couldn't compare this defeat with the previous ones as they showed a clear improvement in their performance.

There were few mistakes for which they failed to repeat their amazing World Cup feat, especially in the fielding they completely missed their usual agility. Besides, their three left-arm spinners were also not at their best.

On the other hand, the batting looked quite good in the first game but they desperately missed an anchor role from any of the top-order batsmen in the second match to be more lively in their chase of a stiff target of 284 under tough conditions at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

As a result, outgoing Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore was not at all dissatisfied with the outcome.

"We have the ability to scare people of which you have seen some today (Saturday). Just that we continually present gifts to the opposition and that makes it pretty hard. We are capable of creating major upsets. We have got to continue to do this more often so that people don't call it upset. We were closer in the last one than this one and we are going to try and get closer in the next one," said Whatmore.

"I just think they're a little bit better team than us. When we batted first, we got 250 and they got it. Today they got 280 (284) and we couldn't get them. Honestly, they are a better team than Bangladesh. Our objective is to be more competitive. If we are, there's a chance for us to knock it off. You can't do that unless you're a little bit more competitive against a better team like India," he opined.

He also explained the reason behind his side's defeat in the second match; especially he looked annoyed by the dismissal of dashing left-handed opener Tamim Iqbal.

"It was just a gift really (Tamim dismissal). One fellow hits it very hard and there was a bit of good fielding, the non-striker was watching the ball. It was bad cricket all around, and it was bit of a gift for the first wicket. We are very kind people, we give a lot of gifts," he mocked.

"We have been successful in the past of chasing totals. We need to learn how to chase larger scores. We have to reduce the amount of mistakes we make. We have to get tougher in certain situations and we have to get really competitive to give ourselves a chance," he added. Whatmore was however not too critical on his side's poor fielding efforts in the two games.

"They probably did okay but it was very tough conditions. We have couple of boys who are not superbly athletic, like there are in many teams, but I thought we stuck to it fairly well. Ones who I thought are reasonably well, did their job. There are others who are not quite as good. The standard is lost because of that but that's natural. It was okay under the circumstances. They dived, had scraps. For the first 49 overs, I wasn't angry at them," he observed.

The Sri Lankan-born Australian also told about the dismissal of ace batsman Mohammad Ashraful in a crucial stage.

"It was a good ball, good wrong 'un (by Piyush Chawla). Ashraful himself would like to make more runs. He would be a little bit disappointed. He needs to realise his talent and transfer that into good scores," he said.

He was also not ready to go with the idea that Ashraful's batting can be effective if he has given the responsibility of captaincy in future.

"If he's given the responsibility, he could do well. It could work as a tonic for him. You never know,' he said.

There was no concern for Mashrafe as he only suffered cramps and not a strain as he struggled out there when he smashing sixes.