Mushfiqur regrets Bangladesh's 'poor' performance
Mirpur, May 9 (IANS) Bangladesh cricket captain Mushfiqur Rahim on Saturday expressed disappointment over the "poor" ending to the successful series against Pakistan.
Bangladesh's run of success was halted in their crushing 328-run defeat in the second and last Test against Pakistan here. The hosts conceded a 0-1 series defeat to Pakistan having drawn the first Test in Khulna, reports bdnews24.com.
Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe 3-0 in Tests and 5-0 in one-days towards the end of last year and hit new highs in this series after their successful World Cup campaign in Australia and New Zealand. They swept the one-day series against Pakistan 3-0 and followed it up with a seven-wicket win in the one-off Twenty20 International.
Mushfiqur admitted that his side's performance in the second Test was a far cry from their recent form.
"Everyone remembers the end, it's natural. If we had lost in this manner some other time, it wouldn't have been discussed so much. We couldn't perform as per expectations. We all are to be blamed for this poor performance," said Mushfiqur.
From the defeat, he realised, that every match was equally competitive.
"We have to turn around in every match, start from zero. Maybe we lacked dedication here and as a result we couldn't apply ourselves on the field. Still (we) got many positives from this series which we can use in the next series. Tamim (Iqbal) has had a great series and Imrul (Kayes) too. Mominul (Haque) as always got 50-plus runs," said Mushfiqur.
"The bowlers will have to be aggressive and keep us in the game for five days. If you want to win and if you want to compete in Tests, you will have to take 20 wickets. We will look to do that against India."