Batsmen let the team down – Mushfiqur
The Bangladesh batsmen must put a greater value on their wickets, their captain Mushfiqur Rahim has said, after his team lost to West Indies in Mirpur
Mohammad Isam in Mirpur17-Nov-2012
Mushfiqur Rahim was one of the five batsmen dismissed in the second session•AFP
The Bangladesh batsmen must put a greater value on their wickets, their captain Mushfiqur Rahim has said, after his side squandered an opportunity to beat a full-strength West Indies for the first time in a Test. Chasing 245, Bangladesh were 45 for 2 at lunch on the final day in Mirpur, but lost five wickets to slip to 129 for 7 by tea. They were dismissed for 167.”Shakib [Al Hasan] got an unplayable ball, but some of our top-order batsmen played soft shots,” Mushfiqur said. “It is not expected of them. We need to make the bowlers work hard for our wickets.”I thought we had a good Test match except for the last two sessions today. We lost the game in the second session by losing five wickets. It became difficult for us to go all out for the win in the final session. We wanted to bat with six wickets in hand after tea, because scoring any amount of runs with just three wickets is difficult in the final session of a Test match.”Given it was Bangladesh’s first Test in 2012, Mushfiqur said it was satisfying to post the team’s highest total in Test cricket. While several batsmen performed in the first innings, their failures in the second frustrated the captain.”Ahead of the Test match, our concerns were about lasting the five days, but we scored 500-plus and took a first-innings lead, these are big achievements,” Mushfiqur said. “Naeem’s maiden Test hundred and the performance of the others are also noteworthy.”But it is sad that we couldn’t make 245 or draw the game against an attack that had given us 556 runs. I hope we start making the bowlers work for our wickets. If we can bring this into our game, we can do better in every Test in the future.”Bangladesh became the 14th team to score 500 runs in an innings and still lose the Test. Their inexperience in chases, having only won once and drawn twice in 14 tries, also contributed to the defeat, according to Mushfiqur. They had considered trying to save the game but that also required the top and middle order to show patience in the 16 overs before lunch and in the second session.”There was a target to make sure we bat less overs if we didn’t get wickets in the morning session. We knew they wouldn’t let go until they had scored 300, but we got quick wickets in the morning. It was a tricky target but I think the batsmen have let down the team.”Chasing 245 is never easy on the final day, so we did consider a draw. We wanted to play normally till tea and try to score the rest in the last session. We were under pressure by losing too many wickets then. We don’t have much experience in fourth innings chases. We can improve ourselves by getting into such situations more.”