03:40
Need to work on how we can play for longer periods in these conditions – Mushfiqur
On the fifth morning in Hyderabad, Bangladesh had pinned their hopes of a draw on Mushfiqur Rahim but four balls into R Ashwin’s first over of the morning, he was caught at mid-off attempting an expansive drive. As soon as the catch was taken, it was clear that Bangladesh’s job had become considerably tougher during a period in the game that is usually the hardest to tackle in India.
Bangladesh had already lost Shakib Al Hasan to a brute of a delivery from Ravinder Jadeja and of the three remaining batsmen, Mushfiqur was the most reliable. Yet, he played that drive two balls after he had already got four off Ashwin through the cover region, which had been kept open to tempt that exact shot.
Mushfiqur was batting well until that attempt, which went against his usual approach of grinding down the bowlers rather than trying to blast them out of the attack. He said he was trying to disrupt the bowler’s length by going after him in the first over, riding on the confidence of a reverse-sweep off Jadeja, but his execution against Ashwin went wrong.
“Although it was not a typical day-five wicket in Indian conditions, there was rough outside off-stump for both right and left-handed batsmen,” Mushfiqur said. “So there was a bit of difficulty. Ashwin was bowling the same line and the ball was flying to the close-in region like leg-slip and slip. I needed to disturb the length and I missed the line. The shot was on but I just didn’t execute. Couple of overs earlier, Jadeja bowling from over the wicket had bowled outside leg stump and I played a reverse-sweep and I connected really well.
“I don’t think it was a bad shot. The execution went wrong. Had I connected it, they would have pushed the mid-off and mid-on back and I could have got easy runs. If all fielders are up, it is difficult to rotate [the strike]. Perhaps had I played 3-4 more overs, I could have got set against Ashwin. This is a learning curve for me and I would take this lesson along.”
Mushfiqur said that the pitch wasn’t like one normally seen in India, where the ball rears up and turns substantially. He also said that Shakib, Mahmudullah and Sabbir Rahman could not be blamed for getting out the way they did.
Sabbir and Mahmudullah both fell to Ishant Sharma, although neither delivery was as unplayable as the one that got Shakib.
“I think this was a different Indian wicket. Everyone tried to play basic cricket,” he said. “Shakib didn’t play a bad shot but still got out. [Mahmudullah] Riyad bhai had no fault in his dismissal. Sabbir [Rahman] missed the line of the ball.
“Rather than picking on the mistakes, we need to work on how we can play for longer periods in these conditions. I think I will try to apply my basics in the coming matches, and try to force a Test draw with my basics.”
Bangladesh would however be happy with that their score of 250 is the second-highest score in the fourth innings by a visiting team in India since 2000. During this same period, they also became the third team to have batted for more than 100 overs in the fourth innings. This, too, in their maiden Test appearance in this country.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo