Bangladesh skipper Mominul Haque rued for playing too many loose shots in the second innings, which according to him is the biggest reason of their humiliating 220-run defeat in the first Test at Kingsmead Cricket Ground in Durban today.
The Tigers were wrapped up for just 53 in the second innings chasing a victory target of 274. It was their second lowest Test innings and also lowest in Durban, in which they came high on confidence after clinching their
first ever ODI series victory on South African soil.
The expectation was also high on Bangladesh Test team, basically for their first Test win on New Zealand soil some months ago.
But the Test defeat to South Africa, who were without the service of their seven first choice players, brought Bangladesh down to the earth.
Mominul said the ultimate damage was done on fourth day when they were reduced to 11-3 after South Africa set them a 274-run target for a victory.
He added that the target on fifth day was to play until the last session but they failed to do so.
Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj claimed 7-32 to sink Bangladesh and Simon Harmer further made their task tougher with 3-21.
“We tried to play according to the merit of the balls. We didn’t look for the result until the last session,” Mominul said after the match.
“But last night we lost three wickets which was crucial. You know we are used to playing spin in Bangladesh and knew that Durban offers spin from the third and fourth days. We didn’t capitalise well with the bat, played too
many loose shots. We can make good partnerships as we showed in the first innings.”
Bangladesh had some complain about umpiring also as the team director Khaled Mahmud Sujon termed the umpiring in the first Test is inconsistent.
It is believed umpires gave at least 11 wrong decisions, most of which went against Bangladesh in the second innings. According to Mahmud, Bangladesh would have chased 180, instead of 274 if the umpires didn’t give
so many wrong decisions.
Even Bangladesh allrounder Shakib Al Hasan twitted, urging the ICC to reinstate the neutral umpires like the past as the Covid-19 restriction eased.
Mominul however said they conceded 50/60 runs extra in the second innings, which also went against them.
“I think we conceded 50-60 runs extra in the second innings, which also made a difference.”
But Bangladesh could take satisfaction from one thing: their fast bowler outplayed South African fast bowler in the Test even though the Proteas didn’t get their first choice pace attack.
“If you see in the last couple of tests in New Zealand and the ODIs here, our pace department has done really well. There was a bit of moisture and we tried to use that,” the captain remarked.
Mominul however vowed to come back stronger in the second and final Test, starting April 8 in Port Elizabeth.
“We’ll look to come back stronger in the next game, hopefully it will be
a good opportunity for players coming in,” he concluded.
