Our batsmen made things tough for themselves: Mushfiqur Rahim

Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim has said that their dismal performance in the 1st innings led to a seven wicket defeat in the 2nd Test match against Australia at Chittagong. The hosts managed to score just 305 runs in the first innings, as Australian spinner Nathan Lyon claimed seven wickets. Lyon went on to pick six more wickets in the second innings, making it a total of 13 wickets in the match. The spin spearhead ended the series with 22 wickets from 2 matches, the most by an Australian in a 2-Test match series.

“Credit to Australia. The wicket was pretty good to bat on, we missed out in the first innings. That’s what cost us. We should’ve got 350 at least. Win or lose, there are a lot of areas of improvements. Our batsmen made things tough for themselves, hopefully we’ll learn.” Rahim said in the post match conference.

Tour to South Africa

Talking about the upcoming tour of South Africa, where Rahim’s men will play 2 Test matches, three ODIs and 2 T20Is, Rahim said “When we go to South Africa the conditions would be very different and we’d need to adjust, come up with new plans and execute well.”

The skipper also praised Lyon, who received the joint players of the match along with David Warner. “I thought Lyon bowled brilliantly, got bounce from the rough and did not give us free balls. The other bowlers also kept things very tight. If the situation comes up again, we would look to adjust and learn from this.” he added.

Rahim stressed on the importance of collective effort. He said “It is a team game and a couple of guys put their hands up. Sadly a couple of them did not do it in this game. It can happen in Tests. Shakib and Tamim are positive signs, Mustafizur bowled superbly in the first innings and hopefully we would go well in South Africa”, he concluded.