Skipper Mashrafe insists Bangladesh can play well in any condition around the world

Bangladesh are tigers not only in their home turf, they have the skills and temperament to do well in any corner of the world, skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza believes.

The Tigers are defeating big teams in One-Day International matches regularly now.

Cricket pundits, however, doubt that they can perform as well they have only in their own territory.

After the impressive series win against India, England great Geoffrey Boycott said Bangladesh needed to win matches abroad, especially Tests against teams like Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and England. 

Indian reporters were sceptic on the same grounds during the post-match press conference.

Mashrafe pointed to his side reaching the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in February-March.

“You see, everyone has to struggle abroad. The condition in Australia and New Zealand was not easy for us. But we did well in the World Cup,” he said.

“Everyone of us has that confidence. 

“I think this team can play their best anywhere in the world. We can succeed in any condition,” he added.

Batsmen blamed

He blamed the batsmen for the 77-run loss to India in the final ODI of the three-match series.

He thinks not keeping wickets in hand even after being in a position of strength was their biggest mistake.

The Tigers were 197 for five at one stage, chasing 318 on Wednesday and needed to score at seven runs per over from there on.

But they faltered after losing Sabbir Rahman and Nasir Hossain.

In the post-match news conference, Mashrafe said the wicket was very good for a 318-run chase.

“We were ahead of India until the 35th over. We had only lost two wickets more. We had no problem chasing the target. We could have scored even 90 runs in the last 10 overs if we had four-five wickets in hand,” he said. 
 
The skipper said he thought Bangladesh fell behind after losing top-scorer Sabbir (43), who seemed to have settled well on the wicket.

He was not too keen to single out any batsman, but blamed those failed to convert the starts they got.

All the top seven batsmen, except Tamim Iqbal, reached double numbers, but failed to carry on to a big score.

“Everyone from number two to seven got out scoring 20-25 runs. We needed one to make 80 and another to score 60. Then the game would have been better,” he said.
 
The Tigers won chasing more than 300 runs thrice before. Mortaza thinks Bangladesh have yet to get big chases right this.

“On the whole, we have made a big mistake. We are yet to learn how to chase well,” he said.

He hoped the Tigers would overcome the deficiency in the future.

Best series

The series win against India is one of the most glorious achievements in Bangladesh’s cricket history, but for captain Mortaza it is the best.

He had led the Tigers to the whitewash of Zimbabwe and Pakistan. 

But he said the win against India was the best as far as he was concerned.

“If you leave aside the achievement in the World Cup, this is the best. We didn’t win a series against teams ranked one to four by ICC. 
 
“A win against them...I’ll say this is the best,” he said.

He said Bangladesh achieved more than they had dreamed of with the series win against India.

“And we will learn from what we’ve lost, I believe. We’ll be able to handle such situation in the future,” Mortaza said.