Bangladesh Test skipper, Mushfiqur Rahim, backed his batsmen for their performance in the Fatullah Test against India, saying that it’s a learning phase for them. On the other hand, he also inculpated them, stating that their performance was not up to the mark in the match, admitting to the fact that the duo of Ashwin & Bhajji bowled exceptionally well. Bangladesh was able to fetch the match a draw with the mercy of the rain.
However amidst all this, he didn’t forget to praise the young debutant Litton Das who scored 44 runs in a calm and composed display of batting. Mushfiqur said, “Litton batted really well in his first Test. Ashwin and Harbhajan really bowled well, but I feel we could have handled them better. As the two off-spinners were bowling from the two ends, our batsmen should have been a bit more cautious. They made bad decisions and got out. It’s a learning curve for our batsmen.”
Talking about the batsmen, Mushfiqur said, “Our first target was to save the follow-on and we wanted our batsmen to play as long as possible, but that didn’t happen. Quite a few of our batsmen got out after getting set. Imrul batted well, some others got out in 30s and 40s and that’s a big crime on this kind of a pitch.” The young captain also accepted the faults in his bowling department. “We need to improve a lot more. One can’t just leak runs at more than 4.5-5 runs an over. It becomes difficult to get back into the game from there. If your opponents score more than 350 runs in a single day, you end up chasing the game” he added.
When asked about whether he is feet to keep the wickets in the ODI series, Mushfiqur just had this to say, “I fielded for almost three days. And it did hurt once or twice. Hopefully, I will be fit to keep wickets by the time the ODIs start.”
