This Bangladesh team can succeed in any part of the world: Captain Mortaza

MIRPUR: Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza reckons the ODI series victory against India was their best performance ever and insisted his team has the skills and temperament to do well in any part of the world.

Bangladesh beat India 2-1 to record their first-ever ODI series victory over their Asian neighbours in a three-match series. Although they lost the third and final match by 77 runs last night but their confidence is at an all-time high.

“If you leave aside the achievement in the World Cup, this is the best. We didn’t win a series against teams ranked one to four by ICC. A win against them (India), I’ll say this is the best,” Mortaza said.

Bangladesh had recorded successive ODI series whitewash against Zimbabwe (5-0) and Pakistan (3-0) and after their win against India, England great Geoffrey Boycott said they needed to win matches abroad, especially against top Test teams.

Mortaza said: “You see, everyone has to struggle abroad. The condition in Australia and New Zealand was not easy for us. But we did well in the World Cup. Each of us has that confidence. I think this team can play their best anywhere in the world. We can succeed in any condition.”

Bangladesh were on the brink of another clean sweep after they won the first two ODIs against India, but they failed to accomplish it. Mortaza said the expectation of a whitewash backfired as it put the team under extra pressure.

“No one wants to lose any match - much less the way we lost [on Wednesday>,” Mashrafe said after the match. “The pressure we have at the start of a series rises before the last match. The idea of ‘Banglawash’ is raised after winning one or two matches. We could have played this match more positively.”

Chasing a victory target of 318, Bangladesh were all out for 240 in 47 overs and Mortaza blamed his batsmen for not capitalising on their starts. “We were ahead of India until the 35th over. We had only lost two wickets more. We had no problem chasing the target. We could have scored even 90 runs in the last 10 overs if we had four-five wickets in hand,” he said.

“Everyone from number two to seven got out scoring 20-25 runs. We needed one to make 80 and another to score 60. Then the game would have been better. On the whole, we have made a big mistake. We are yet to learn how to chase well. And we will learn from what we’ve lost, I believe. We’ll be able to handle such situation in the future,” Mortaza said.

PTI