AFP, Hyderabad :
Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim said Monday his side desperately needed more Test experience to be competitive against top teams after their 208-run thumping in their first five-day game on Indian soil.
Chasing a daunting target of 459, Bangladesh’s lower-order put up some resistance but the team was bowled out for 250 in an extended afternoon session on the final day of the Test in Hyderabad.
Mahmudullah (64) shrugged off poor form to register his 13th Test 50 while young spinner Mehedi Hasan made a gutsy 61-ball 23 to delay the inevitable against the world’s number one Test side.
Ninth-ranked Bangladesh have won just three of their 44 away Tests since gaining five-day status in 2000, but Rahim believes the team is improving with every passing year.
“The more Tests we play, the better we will become as a unit,” Rahim told reporters after their loss. “We have been playing a little better than in the last five years, so hopefully we will step up and the boys will improve with experience.”
Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja claimed four wickets each to see off Bangladesh, who started the day on 103 for three.
“If you look at our bowling line-up, apart from Shakib (Al Hasan) there is hardly a player who has played more than 10-12 Tests,” Rahim said, pointing to his side’s lack of experience.
“It doesn’t matter how many runs you score, but it’s important to restrict the opposition batting.”
Rahim also lamented the absence of a quality batsman like Virat Kohli, the Indian skipper whose blazing 204 helped the home side amass a crushing 687-6 declared in the first innings.
Where Kohli averages above 50 in all the three formats, Bangladesh boasts only Shakib Al Hasan, who averages above 40 in just Tests.
Rahim said a player like Kohli would have prevented Bangladesh from needing to field seven batsmen on the final day. “Four (batsmen) would have been enough to draw a match, but unfortunately we don’t have a Virat Kohli in our team,” he said.
Rahim himself missed a stumping chance off Wriddhiman Saha, who went on to score a century, inviting questions about whether he is juggling too many responsibilities.
The captain, wicketkeeper and batsmen said he was determined to prove he could deliver in all three departments.
“At the moment I am really enjoying what I am doing. The captaincy is not up to me, it’s the board’s decision. They can analyse the whole thing and come up with a decision,” he said.
