ICC Champions Trophy 2017: Mashrafe Mortaza says Bangladesh need to get mentally tougher

Birmingham: Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza today conceded that his team needs to get “mentally tougher” in crunch games, which has been their undoing in big-ticket tournaments. Bangladesh suffered a nine-wicket defeat at the hands of India in the semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy. [caption id=“attachment_3645181” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza addresses the press AP[/caption] “We have repeated these mistakes often in big matches. This was a match where we should have scored 330 but ended up scoring 264. We need to get mentally tough in these situations and when we come back next time, may be correct mistakes,” Mortaza said at the post-match press conference. “May be quality and skill-wise we are not lacking but you need to get mentally tougher as to what needs to be done in big matches like these. We need to ask ourselves some questions as to whether we were ready to defend 264. May be that’s what we need to ask ourselves,” said the skipper. He expects that the youngsters would step up and not depend on players like Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah all the time. “We don’t have too many back-up options. Some of these youngsters have played for 3-4 years so it’s not fair to just drop them. We have to persist with them and also believe they can get mentally tougher,” he said. Asked if he is mulling his future and whether he would be playing in the 2019 World Cup, he said: “May be, may be not. I am still enjoying my game.