Rahim rues constant collapses

Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim was left frustrated yet again after his side’s defeat against the West Indies in St Lucia, saying they needed to learn how to recover from small collapses.

The Tigers lost the second Test by 296 runs and thus were whitewashed, having lost the first game by 10 wickets. Rahim bemoaned the fact that after putting on a century stand on day four, and then losing a wicket, it all went downhill.

As in previous games, where Rahim said he felt the players didn’t care enough, he was baffled by their lack of comeback power, failing to recover from the loss of a wicket and all out for less than 200 twice in one game.

Mushfiqur said: “It has been a problem in the last couple of years. We haven’t worked it out yet. It is all sorts of mental and skill-related things.

“Sometimes it is skills, sometimes it is mental. We need to be tough. Because this is Test cricket, we need to be tough for the whole session, not one or two hours.”

He did praise some players who contributed with half tons here and there, as well as wickets, but said it wasn’t enough for individuals to do moderately well. He hoped their next encounter, against more even opposition, would be more successful.

“I think Tamim, Mominul, Mahmudullah, Al-Amin played well, as did Taijul. But we need to improve a lot as a group.

“We have a home series coming up against Zimbabwe which will be a tough one so all the boys will get a break and let’s see how it goes.”

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