Mushfiqur Rahim Unhappy with Bowlers' Performance in India-Bangladesh One-off Test

The one-off Test match against India ended in a stalemate and that has made Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim unhappy. He was disappointed with the way the bowlers played in the damp conditions, conceding over 400 runs.

Rahim was not happy with his batsmen either as India had managed to take all 10 Bangladesh wickets after declaring at 462 for six on the board on Day 4.

"A bowler needs to bowl in one particular area and be consistent so that we can plan a field for the batsmen. If we set a field for deliveries that are bowled in front of the batsmen and in good areas and then you see the bowler bowling a short pitched delivery, then the captain may look foolish.

"It depends upon the bowler and what they are executing. If our plan clicks everyone would have said positive things. If it doesn't people will criticize," Rahim said at the press conference after the game on the final day was called off due to bad weather conditions. 

Quite surprisingly, the Indian batsmen scored at a run rate of above four throughout the first innings in spite of the damp conditions and slow outfield.

Shakib al-Hasan was the only Bangladeshi bowler to get four wickets and Jubai Hossain bowled well in patches to pick up his two wickets at the cost of 113 in just 19 overs.

Rahim also praised India skipper Virat Kohli's aggressive and positive intent. Even when the match was heading for a draw, Kohli was looking for wickets. Rahim said there was much to learn from the Indian bowlers who bowled in good areas to trouble their opponents and also bowled according to the field set by Kohli to set up the Bangladeshi batsmen. Rahim also feels that they could have played the two Indian spinners better instead of throwing their wickets away at regular intervals.

"The captaincy depends upon the entire team and captaincy is a big issue. But at this level a bowler comes and tells the captain how he is going to set a batsman up and accordingly a captain sets a field. But in our level there is a big gap here.

"If our bowlers bowl one ball here and the other there, then the field setup will never look good. The way Harbhajan and Aswhin bowled, you could always use an attacking field against any side. So hopefully we can learn from this Test and work more on our bowling. It will help our Test cricket," the skipper added. 

Rahim also pondered over the idea of picking one pacer for the one-off Test match against India.

"Maybe had we taken another pacer it could have been good. There might have been a mistake from our side. We take a decision together with logic," he said. "Maybe if we would have won the toss, things would have been different and our four spinners could have attacked their batsmen more. So maybe we can learn from this experience and know what are the positives and negatives of playing with a single pacer."