Bangladesh Test captain Mominul Haque did not particularly want to blame anyone for the Tigers’ defeat in the first Test against West Indies at Chattogram but said the bowlers did not bowl in the right areas.
Chasing 395 for victory with just a bit more than four sessions left after Bangladesh declared yesterday, Windies snatched victory courtesy of Kyle Mayers’s indomitable 210 not out off 310 deliveries. Bangladesh lacked aggression and ammunition to press on for a win when Mayers and Nkrumah Bonner picked off the Bangladesh attack that were struggling without ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan’s services.
For the skipper, there was no particular reason for the defeat and Mominul, in fact said that the thought of defeat had never crossed his mind during the last day’s play.
‘It’s not easy to say what went wrong when the team loses. When the team loses, everyone loses and when it wins, everyone wins. We lost together,” the skipper said.
Having picked four spinners in the lineup, Mominul however was of the opinion that the bowlers did not bowl in the right areas.
“At no time during the match did I feel that we were losing. We showed our prowess for the last four days but lost the match towards the end. I didn’t even think we would lose the match.
When the Windies duo batted with confidence, not throwing away their wickets, the Bangladesh spin trio of Mehedi Miraz, Nayeem Hasan and Taijul Islam had to be content on slowing down the run-rate. The ploy did not work as Mayers showed an ability to pick off sub-par deliveries at will.
Asked if there were particular reason to why the bowlers did not bowl in better areas, he said: “There is no particular reason. Maybe it’s because we are playing Tests after a long time.”
Asked on Shakib, who had suffered a groin injury, not being there, Mominul said: “If Shakib bhai was there, our bowling would be tidier. As a senior batsman and bowler, he would have guided everyone. We missed him, especially in bowling.”
It appears that Tigers’ dependency on spin attack came back to bite them. Had the wicket betrayed them? “The wicket had enough in it but we didn’t use our opportunities. Bowlers did bowl in good areas but if we had used our opportunities, the game could have been different. The two batsman had two opportunities and once someone is set at the crease in this wicket, it’s difficult to get them out,” Mominul said.
