I am unable to motivate my players or guide my bowlers, says Mushfiqur Rahim

Mushfiqur Rahim blamed himself for Bangladesh’s tough day on the field. (Source: File)

After a solid performance by the South African batsmen on first day of the second Test, Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim admitted that bowlers were not up to the mark on a wicket which was helping them for first two hours of the match.

After being put into bat, South Africa put up 428 runs for the loss of three wickets with openers Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram completing their centuries, before being dismissed for 113 and 143 respectively. The experienced top-order continued the flow of runs as Hashim Amla and captain Faf du Plessis are still unbeaten on 89 and 62 respectively.

Mushfiqur felt that Bangladesh bowlers did not use the new ball to their advantage, which made things easy for South Africa batsmen. He was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz,”It didn’t go well. We took the decision to bowl first and there was help in the first two hours. Our bowling wasn’t up to the standard. We could have seen how they’d have bowled in this wicket on the first day. When you give away a lot of runs with the new ball, things become easier for the batsmen, when it should be the opposite.”

Mushfiqur added: “We made a comeback but it was not enough. We are on the backfoot. If we can take two early wickets, we hope to bowl them out within the next 100-150 runs.”

South Africa scored 126 runs for no loss in the first session. Dean Elgar also completed his 1,000 Test runs, becoming the South African to do so in a calendar year. Rahim commented on his bowlers performance, “I thought it was a good wicket to bowl on but our bowlers didn’t capitalise in those conditions. I think afterwards they came back but when you have the new ball and bowlin to top-class batsmen, you need to bowl well up front.

According to the Bangladesh captain, the bowling side allowed too many runs in the first session,”We leaked a lot of runs in the first session. When it was up, they knocked the ball straight down the ground. When they tried to bowl back, it was too short. We couldn’t find the right line and length, which hurt us a lot. I think they tried, and at times they bowled well in short spells.”, he said.

Mushfiqur also blamed himself for Bangladesh’s tough day on the field,”I think it was my mistake to win the toss. I have been trying to do everything honestly for the last 12 years. But in these last two games it seems it’d been better had I lost the toss. I think it is my personal failure. I am not able to motivate my players or guide my bowlers,” Mushfiqur concluded.