You can’t win match with such batting performance: Mominul
Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque believed that an extremely poor batting let them down in the second and final Test in which they conceded a huge 332-run defeat, reports BSS.
Bangladesh also lost the first Test by 220 runs and eventually were whitewashed in the two-match Test series, following their historical win in three-match ODI series by 2-1.
"We batted extremely poorly throughout the series. You can't expect to win a match with this sort of batting. We indeed couldn't play to our full potential," Mominul said after the match on Monday at Port Elizabeth.
"We didn't perform with the bat and ball collectively as a team, like South Africa. Congratulations to them. It is disappointing, but we have to move forward."
South Africa, who opted to bat first, put up 453 before being all out in the first innings with Maharaj hammering 84 while Dean Elgar made 70 and Temba Bavuma added 67.
Bangladesh were wrapped up for 217 and were still 37 runs behind to avoid following but South Africa chose to bat second time. The hosts declared the second innings on 176-6, setting a 413-run target for Bangladesh to win the game.
Bangladesh's batting collapse in the first Test was believed to be the key in the team's big defeat.
"It was mainly due to not building partnerships be it with bat or ball. We'd build pressure on one end but would let it be released at the other, and we have to capitalise (on starts) and build better partnerships," he said.
The most disappointing aspect was that Bangladesh had meek surrender to the South African spinners Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer, even though they were no big names in International cricket. Harmer in fact played his first Test series since 2015.
Bangladesh also got a pitch, which South Africa hardly offered for the visiting nation.
However, Mominul said the wicket though assists spinners; it was completely different from what they got in the sub-continent or back at home.
"In the sub-continent or back at our home, we mostly played side spin and our spinners got success with side spin. But here the side spin didn't work. Here they did overhead spin, which brought success for them. But we are not so used to overhead spin and so we capitulated," Mominul explained.
However, he also felt pity for not absorbing the pressure.
"The opposition will also have to play in the same conditions and in international cricket, you have to absorb pressure and play regardless of conditions. No excuses on that,” Bangladesh Test skipper said.
“We have to play with the process as our focus, not the results of this Test series. The ODI series win was good for us. But unfortunately we couldn’t emulate that result in the Test series,” he added.