Mushfiqur Rahim hurts Bangladeshi bowlers after his lambasting comments

Following Bangladesh’s humiliating loss against South Africa in the first Test at Bloemfontein, skipper Mushfiqur Rahim, in a long press conference slammed the bowlers for not coming up with better performance. Rahim blamed the bowlers more than the batsmen for the loss.

Rahim questioned the attitude of the bowlers in the first innings which apparently demoralized the bowlers in the Bangladeshi ranks and the strain in their faces was quite visible. Fast bowler Rubel Hussain who did not feature in the First Test was seen eating alone in the lobby while Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed were seen in a gloomy, silent mood along with fellow bowlers Shiaful Islam and Mehidy Hasan.

Our spin bowling should have been better: Mahmudullah

The cricketers in the Bangladesh team refused to comment anything after hearing Mushqfiqur’s strong statements at the press conference. Looking at the gloomy atmosphere within the camp, senior statesman Mahmudullah revealed that Mushfiqur Rahim intended to make a different statement but mistakenly came up with a hurtful one for the bowlers in the team.

“If you talk about bowlers like Rabada and Morkel, they have played a lot of matches. They are well ahead when it comes to experience. But yes, our spin bowling should have been better. Actually, there are many small things. Batting, bowling, fielding – we have to work hard in all three departments,” commented Mahmudullah according to BD Crictime.

South Africa piled on a daunting total of 496 in the first innings by losing just two wickets to the bowlers (three in total). Dean Elgar and Hashim Amla filled in their boots by scoring their respective centuries. Bangladesh in reply could only amass as many 320 runs in the first innings. The home side then gave a target 424 in front of the visitors and the Tigers were bundled out for 90 runs, thereby, losing the match by a massive margin of 333 runs.