For once Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore had a broad smile his face after seeing the way his young learners had given Pakistan a real scare in the fourth one-day match at Rawalpindi on Thursday.

And he could hardly wait to talk to journalists after arriving in the city yesterday afternoon.

"Well, it was a big disappointment to lose. But there was a good game of cricket. The boys fought really very hard and they came down to the last over. So, you can't say it was a bad game," he said adding that it was Yousuf Youhana who made the difference.

"He's a very good player and he remained calm under pressure."

Youhana with an unbeaten 94 guided the home team to their fourth successive win in the five-match series. Pakistan, set to score 223 for a victory, reached the target losing five wickets and with one ball to spare.

When asked why his top-order approached the game so cautiously, Whatmore thought that it was good bowling by the Pakistanis that slowed them down in the early stages.

"They bowled straight. Shoaib Malik did not give anything to hit. So, I think the batsmen did a good job in that situation. Also they managed to bat out entire 50 overs and that's what I wanted from them,

"I felt that the batting display was very good. They had wickets in hand and they proved that they could accelerate in the last ten overs," he said.

Captain Khaled Mahmud, however, said that it would have been better if they had scored some more runs.

"I was thinking of getting a total around 250 after winning my first toss in the ODI series. Then again it was not a bad total. I'm still very happy that everybody tried their best.

About the go-slow tactic, Mahmud said they did not have any other option especially after losing two early wickets.

"If we had lost a few more wickets in the first 15 overs, it would have brought more pressure on us. In each of the first three games we couldn't last the full 50 overs. So, it was necessary to play like that.

"We won against Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup scoring 223, So, I thought it was a good omen in Thursday's game also. Again I wish to give full credit to my teammates and hope they display the same level of cricket in the last match on Sunday," said the hopeful Mahmud.

Whatmore wanted to his players to relax in the Karachi Sheraton Hotel's swimming pool after the flight from Rawalpindi, but had to abandon the idea, as the pool would remain closed until next week because of a Spanish food festival.