The ODI captain of the Bangladesh cricket team Mashrafe Mortaza has opined that the Tigers need to change their mentality ahead of the ODI series against West Indies.

Speaking to bdnews24 just before flying out to the Caribbean, Mashrafe stated that his preparations haven’t been ideal as he couldn’t play much cricket in the last six months and also couldn’t practice as much as he would have liked before flying to West Indies.

‘The preparations were not ideal. I played a single BCL (Bangladesh Cricket League, the country’s premier first-class competition) match in April. After that, I haven’t bowled much.

‘During Ramadan, I spent all my time in the gym and I only just began my bowling practice a few days ago but couldn’t continue it [due to personal problems]. It would have been better if I could have practiced a little more.

‘I can’t give any excuses once I am on the ground [playing in official matches]. The responsibility for success and failure is mine. I find some respite in the fact that there is a practice match on the 19^th and I can play in it.’

Bangladesh lost the Test series against West Indies 2-0 and slipped below the latter in the rankings. As a result, Mashrafe believes that he needs to sit with the team and talk to them while also adding that the mentality of the Tigers needs to change.

‘I have to sit with the team. I am going to play an ODI series after a long time [as] we played our last ODI in January [against Sri Lanka], which was six months ago. I will speak to everyone and if necessary, speak individually with players who need it. At this level, everyone trains just as hard, so I think that mentality is what’s needed to change.’

Bangladesh haven’t been enjoying a good spell of late. They have lost in every series that they took part in 2018, starting from the tri-nation series at home that consisted of Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe to the recently-concluded Test series against West Indies.

In fact, the last time Bangladesh won a series in any format of the game was way back in October 2016 when the Tigers hosted Afghanistan for a three-match ODI series which the former subsequently won 2-1.

As a result, the Tigers are currently on a 21-month winless streak with the only positive being Bangladesh holding Australia to a 1-1 draw in a two-match Test series in September 2017.

This is a tough time for Bangladesh cricket and Mashrafe acknowledges that. However, what seems to bemuse him is the way the players are responding to failures.

‘Difficult times will come in international cricket. The important thing is how we tackle these tough times – whether it is with courage or fear. I think that we are currently not facing this challenge with courage. [So] I will try to ensure that we fight with courage.’

As the saying goes, attack is the best defence – and Mashrafe seems to be from the same school of thought.

‘Winning and losing will always be there in cricket but I believe that offense is the best defense and I will try to strengthen the defensive by using offense.’

As he continued his analysis, he deciphered that Bangladesh’s woes truly began from the final of the tri-nation against Sri Lanka in January, in a game where Shakib Al Hasan left the field with a finger injury and subsequently couldn’t bat in the game.

Despite the absence of the best all-rounder in the world, Mashrafe was baffled that Bangladesh batters couldn’t chase down 222 on a surface that seemed to help the batsmen.