'Deficit made a massive difference'

The first Test may have ended in heartbreak, with a debutant showing unexpected strength of character to take Bangladesh within 22 runs of a steep 286-run target on a trying pitch. But in keeping with the skipper's hopes expressed before the match, Bangladesh had -- perhaps for the first time -- truly competed in every session against a team deemed far superior by popular opinion as well as official rankings.

"The biggest achievement is to have played consistently for the whole Test match," said a downbeat Mushfiqur after the match yesterday. "I think we have done that 90-95 per cent of the time but we could have done better in some areas. We can take a lot of positives – [Mehedi Hasan] Miraz and Shakib [Al Hasan] bowled well. Tamim batted well, and it wasn't in his character to bat like he did. Sabbir [Rahman] batted well too. It was a good Test for Bangladesh.

"Nobody expected Bangladesh to play in this manner after 15 months so we had to prove that we could do something. We showed our character to a side like England. It was a learning experience."

Mushfiqur identified the first innings deficit of 45 runs as a major turning point in a close Test match. In that respect Shakib Al Hasan's wild heave that resulted in a stumping off the second ball of the third day when Bangladesh were 72 behind was crucial.

"Those runs made a massive difference. We replied with five early wickets in their second innings and then Stokes put up that big partnership but I still think that had we gone close to their 290, the Test match could have taken a different path. It did matter in the end.

"I think he [Shakib] realises that he didn't do the right thing. We didn't expect this from such a matured player. We want him to have more impact for the team and it is something we can all learn from."

The pragmatist in Mushfiqur came out when he said before the match that Bangladesh would not become an extraordinary team even if they won the match. He stayed true to that sentiment after the game as well.

 "Thirty runs and two wickets is a difficult equation. The match was tilted towards them almost 90 per cent. I think almost everyone in their line-up have first-class 100s. We don't have any tail-ender who has a first-class hundred, and even if we did, there's a huge difference between their first-class cricket and our first-class cricket," he said.

And that was a glimpse of the Mushfiqur the media and fans have missed for much of the last 15 months -- his straight-talking persona that often cuts to the heart of the problems in Bangladesh cricket. That was the side of Mushfiqur that came out when asked about the Bangladesh pace bowlers as England's lethality with the reverse swinging ball proved a crucial difference in the end.

"Does anyone know how many first-class bowlers we have who can bowl well with the old ball?" asked Mushfiqur. "If you look at a scorecard from our first-class competitions, you will invariably see a spinner taking a five-for and the pace bowlers taking one or two wickets. If a bowler doesn't know how to set up a batsman, and bowl according to the field, then you can't expect him to do it at the Test level. It is easy for guys like [Stuart] Broad and [Ben] Stokes who have been doing it for years. I don't think Shafiul [Islam] and Kamrul [Islam Rabbi] bowled that badly. It was a learning experience for them, and they realised that they need to know how to bowl with the old ball."