Mominul feels sorry for Mushfiq, Liton

Bangladesh Test skipper Mominul Haque is feeling sorry for Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das after their efforts with the bat went in vain in the Dhaka Test, which the hosts lost to Sri Lanka by 10 wickets on Friday.

Mushfiq struck a brilliant 175 not out and Liton made 141 in the first innings to rescue the team from 24-5.

Mushfiq missed out in the second innings, scoring 23, while Liton made 52 in testing circumstances. But their efforts weren’t enough to make up for the failures of the other batters.

Mominul, who himself had a forgettable Test match with scores of nine and 0, felt bad that Mushfiq and Liton’s innings went unrewarded.

“Feeling sorry for Mushfiq bhai and Liton, who played so well. But Sri Lanka put a lot of pressure on us with the new ball. It’s all a mental game” Mominul said in the post-match press conference.

Mominul once again rued the lack of mental fortitude of his team, “We didn't do well in key moments.” He is also concerned about what will happen in the future series, “If we’re not mentally strong, it’ll be very difficult to come back in the next series.”

The frail batting order is not Bangladesh’s only concern. The bowling department also looked toothless in the match, with the only exception being Shakib Al Hasan.

The Sri Lankan pace attack of Asitha Fernando and Kasun Rajitha bowled well throughout the match and claimed 17 wickets in the game. In comparison, the Bangladesh pace attack of Ebadot Hossain and Khaled Ahmed looked mostly ineffective.

Ebadot had a few good spells on Day 4, but other than that he and Khaled didn’t match up to their Sri Lankan counterparts.

Mominul feels that the team needs to pay attention to the pace attack as well as fix batting woes.

“It's been disappointing. We have to work hard, we didn't do well in key moments, but there were some positives… We have to look after our bowling as well, especially pace bowling.”