Mashrafe questions mentality

Their fearless attitude turned into a shaky approach after Shakib Al Hasan was forced to leave the ground with an injury he sustained while fielding, as Bangladesh lost an opportunity to clinch their first tri-series trophy for the fourth time when Sri Lanka emerged champions with a comfortable 79-run win at the Sher-e-Bangla National stadium in Mirpur yesterday.

Despite bundling out Sri Lanka on a modest total of 221, the Tigers' body language seemed lacklustre but Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza still believes that the home side could have chased down the target.

"When he [Shakib] fell, we were sure he wouldn't be playing. We saw his hand. We knew it wasn't possible for him to bat, so we had asked the others not to think about it. I wouldn't use it as an excuse when chasing 220-odd runs. We were quite disciplined in our bowling. We contained them for around 220 runs. We dropped two catches. But we have enough batsmen in the dressing room to score 222 runs, even when we are without Shakib," Mashrafe told reporters after the game yesterday.

There was even a question about whether the the Tigers simply have a habit of choking when it comes to big occasions such as the South Africa tour but Mashrafe refuted that fact and said that Bangladesh would have to do a lot worse to be compared with that debacle.

Mashrafe did however question the batsmen's mentality rather than their skills and added that Mushfiqur Rahim's dismissal proved crucial while the other batsmen were unable to make an impact and Tamim Iqbal failed to score once again.

"The wicket was going up and down a bit. A batsman had to be set before playing shots. It is difficult to explain what was going on in their head. If the Mahmudullah-Mushfiqur partnership took us ahead, we would have been in a better position. Shakib may have come out to bat in that situation. Mushfiqur got out after getting set," he said.

The variable nature of the pitch was brought into question throughout the series and so naturally the home team captain also voiced his dissatisfaction over the wicket.

"From the beginning we wanted a good wicket, one where they can get high-scoring games. We have four quicks and Shakib. Our bowling unit was strong enough. We wanted to wickets like the one when we scored 300-plus against Sri Lanka," Mashrafe added.

Sri Lanka had come into the match with a short-ball strategy that took great effect while Mashrafe informed that Bangladesh did do their homework but failed to deliver when it mattered.