Mushy not happy too

Nobody could be happy with the way the second and final Test and with it the the two-match series ended yesterday and Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim was no exception. When many had raised question for choosing this rainy season for the series, the home side's skipper however believed that Cyclone Komen worsened the situation.

"Just because of the cyclone the weather got worse. I reckon we could have had a result in this Test in three days, considering the wicket," was the observation from the little man who also reminded of the limitation arranging the series in this season.

"We could have gotten plenty of lessons had we played -- to bat on this difficult wicket with plenty of patience and then score runs. These are things that we missed to take lessons from. I don't think we played very badly. I think 246 is a very good score on this wicket. It's not as though, oh the rains came and saved us. I think on any other wicket this score is equivalent to 350. Many were telling me that it's good that it has rained, but personally I never felt that because I batted on that wicket and I knew that it would have been difficult to score on that wicket. So I think in this Test we have learnt a lot," Mushfiqur summarised the first day's performance.

Like the other series, Mushfiqur reminded that changes in domestic cricket could only help them to get big scores at international level.

"For example, look at Liton [Das]. He scores freely in domestic cricket. But why can't he do it here? Because of the pressure. We aren't able to sustain that pressure. So at least in domestic cricket if we have a good wicket that will help us. If that happens we will be able to score 70 or 80 runs here if we can score a 100 or 150 in domestic cricket.

"Right now what happens is that if we score 100s in domestic cricket, we are scoring 30, 40 or 50 in Tests. This is a big difference. This won't change overnight. We have to keep this in mind in domestic cricket. We have to play as long as possible, whether we score 200 or 250 we have to bat for as long as possible. This is our next challenge and we have two more Tests this year, hopefully we can change that," he reflected on the failure of converting the good starts into big ones.

The Bangladesh Test skipper was hopeful about a good series against Australia, who will arrive in Dhaka on September 28 to play two Tests, but right now they want a break and enjoy their recent success.

"As a team we have set a benchmark in the last few series. We have played well in both the Test and ODI series, although there is plenty of room for improvement. We have to make sure that we continue that and play well against Australia. I think now is the time to enjoy this moment for the achievements that we have made and enjoy the break. We have a fitness camp coming up and then there's a skill camp as well, so we need a break now."