Mushfiqur nearly broke into tears after being injured in New Zealand

Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim says he almost cried in the dressing room after being injured in the opening ODI against New Zealand.

The Bangladesh Test captain sustained a hamstring injury in the first ODI in Christchurch last month and missed the rest of the limited-overs series against the Black Caps.

The 28-year-old batsman was clearly in pain after struggling to reach for the non-striker’s end when he was on 42.

After limping around for a while, the middle-order lynchpin trudged back crestfallen.

Returning to the team for the Tests after recovery, Mushfiqur spoke his mind.

“After seeing the wickets I had a feeling that I missed something. I was almost in tears after returning to the dressing room,” Mushfiqur said on Wednesday.

“Whoever comes and plays well in these countries are evaluated differently. I had prepared myself in that way to play well here this time. But unfortunately that did not happen.”

With Bangladesh batting repeatedly collapsing, Mushfiqur was badly missed in the middle-order.

No other batsmen were able to match his resolve as the Tigers were whitewashed 3-0 in both the ODI series and the Twenty20 series.

The skipper in Test whites, however, hopes the batsmen will learn from their mistakes.

“On these wickets, had the batsmen shown a bit more commitment... Tamim [Iqbal], Shakib [Al Hasan], Mahmudullah, Imrul [Kayes], Soumya [Sarkar] -- no matter who you speak – it was a big opportunity for them all.

 “Now our goal has to be to take the chances…,” he added.

In fact Bangladesh batsmen have to put up a much better show to make a fight out of it when the first Test of the two-match series begins on Thursday.