A dismal 2014 for the national cricket team on and off the field created a lot of controversies inside the Bangladesh Cricket Board that ultimately saw cricket’s governing body make big overhauls. Among the changes were the issue of split captaincy. Mushfiqur Rahim, who led the Tigers across all formats for around two years, only retained his Test captaincy while Mashrafe bin Mortaza was re-appointed as the skipper of the ODI side.
The outcome – the first ever 3-0 whitewash at home soil. However, theoretically it may seem the decision to spilt the leadership might have made the impact here but the actual reason is the rise in confidence level of the senior players.
Mushfiq, who is yet to grow out of the old habit of leading the Tigers in all formats, always believed they had the potential to bag the three-match Test series 3-0 and it was only possible with the seniors contributing more in the game.
The wicketkeeper-batsman also informed he almost started planning for the upcoming one-day matches when he realised he doesn’t need to any more.
“After the first one-day maybe the realisation (of not leading the side) will come. Generally I try to make a plan early and stay a week ahead with my homework, I was about to do something like that this time as well but then I realised that I am not the captain. If I play as a keeper, obviously if Mashrafe bhai wants I can help from there,” said Mushfiq.
“Yes, 3-0 was always in the thoughts, but the reality was that if we could execute ourselves we would get this result. It’s nothing unbelievable, this is quite normal for Bangladesh’s cricket, because against our spinners it was going to be difficult for them. Credit goes to the bowlers, especially, but the batsmen - the runs they scored, even they have to be thanked. Our key players performed and that’s why this 3-0 was possible,” said Mushfiq during the post-match conference at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium yesterday.
Mominul Haque has simply been phenomenal while the return to form of Tamim Iqbal with back-to-back hundreds and Shakib al Hasan’s 251 runs and 18 wickets in the series helped Mushfiq become the most successful Bangladesh captain.
The skipper, however, did not forget to praise the fresh blood in his troop – Taijul Islam, the most valuable Bangladeshi player of the series with 17 wickets, and leg-spinner Jubair Hossain, who picked 11 wickets including his maiden five-for in the first innings of this Test.
“We tried to set a platform for the juniors so that they could enjoy. And they did that for instance Taijul. Obviously, a leg-spinner is a big asset for the team, a bright future, but he (Jubair) has plenty of areas to improve, I am not saying Zimbabwe are a weak team that’s why he has done well but if he wants to progress, he has the ability to do better and he has to do better. Me and the coach, we will try to give him the reminders and hopefully he can fulfill the leg-spinning gap that has been there in Bangladesh,” Mushfiq said.