‘It is a crime to give wickets to spinners on foreign soil’

Bangladesh Test skipper Mominul Haque said that it is not only unacceptable but also a 'crime' to give wickets away to spinners on foreign soil. 

"I think It is a crime to give wickets to spinners on foreign soil," said Mominul at the post-match press conference after the Tigers were handed a heavy 220-run thumping by South Africa in the first Test in Durban today. 

Before the Durban Test, Bangladesh had thought that the South African pacers would trouble the visiting batters most. However, things were completely different during the game. It was the Protea spinners that caused the Tigers' downfall.

South Africa bundled out Bangladesh for just 53 in 19 overs in their second innings -- the Tigers' second-lowest total in Tests. And the hosts did not even use a single pacer in the second innings as their spin duo of Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer accounted for all the 10 wickets.

In fact, 14 of Bangladesh's 20 wickets in the Test were scalped by the spin duo of Maharaj and Harmer.  

"You should not give wickets to spinners while playing overseas. Because you have more chances to score against the spinners and batters should not give their wickets away to spinners. Obviously, it is a batting failure," Mominul added. 

The Bangladesh skipper himself is going through a lean patch. The 30-year-old has scored in single digits in seven of his last 10 Test innings. He could only score 0 and 2 in the two innings in this Test against South Africa. 

For that reason, Mominul took all the blame. 

"Being the captain, I am the most accountable. I could not take responsibility in both innings. So, I take full responsibility. As a captain, I could not lead from the front. I think I should have led from the front in both the innings and then I think the result of the match would have been different," Mominul realised.     

However, despite his poor run of form with the bat, Mominul said that he is not too worried about it as one good innings could easily bring him back on track. 

"I am not worried about my form. I think I will get back on track with one good innings," concluded Mominul.