Mushfiq couldn't execute well: Mashrafe
||Desk Report||
Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza said that the failure of middle-order has caused them another heartbreak in the Asia Cup final.
Bangladesh suffered a last-ball defeat in the final, when Kedar Yadav managed to sneak a single through a leg bye as India reached 223-7 in 50 overs after dismissing their opponents for 222 runs.
Bangladesh were 120 for no loss at one stage before the Indian spinners were instrumental in helping them to pull it back in their favor by sharing six wickets between them as Bangladesh could only manage 106 runs in the last 28.3 overs while losing all their wickets in the said period.
“To be honest, we wanted a partnership when Riyad and Mushfiq were batting. We were 120 in the 21st over. If we had played low-risk cricket for the next 14-15 overs, we could have added 60-70 runs for the loss of one wicket,” said Mashrafe.
“Mushfiq couldn't execute well. The run-outs also hurt. Intent doesn't mean getting out playing big shots. You have to look after the batting following a good start. We should have scored 250-260 on this wicket,” he said adding that they wanted to put Mehidy at the top of the order due to repeated failure by the openers.
“Actually, we thought that we weren't clicking in the top-order in the whole tournament. We wanted to keep Soumya [Sarkar] and send Mehidy to open, so that at least we have seven solid batters later on. We wanted Mehidy to hang in there for 10 overs. Then the middle-order will come into play. But I think they [the openers] did more than what we wanted,” he concluded.
