Mushfiqur Rahim returned for test series against Kiwis

Jan 11 (CRICKETNMORE): Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim has returned to the team for the Tests. He was ruled out of the team due to injury in the opening One-Day International (ODI) against New Zealand. The Bangladesh Test captain sustained a hamstring injury in the first ODI in Christchurch last month and missed the rest of the limited-overs series against New Zealand.

The 28-year-old batsman was clearly in pain after struggling to reach for the non-striker's end when he was on 42. After limping around for a while, the middle-order lynchpin trudged back crestfallen.

Returning to the team for the Tests after recovery, Mushfiqur spoke his mind.

"After seeing the wickets I had a feeling that I missed something. I was almost in tears after returning to the dressing room," Mushfiqur said on Wednesday.

"Whoever comes and plays well in these countries are evaluated differently. I had prepared myself in that way to play well here this time. But unfortunately that did not happen."

With the Bangladesh batting repeatedly collapsing, Mushfiqur was badly missed in the middle-order.

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No other batsman were able to match his resolve as Bangladesh were whitewashed 0-3 in both the ODI series and the Twenty20 series.

 

The Test skipper, however, hoped the batsmen would learn from their mistakes.

"On these wickets, had the batsmen shown a bit more commitment... Tamim [Iqbal], Shakib (Al Hasan), Mahmudullah, Imrul (Kayes), Soumya (Sarkar) -- no matter who you speak - it was a big opportunity for them all. Now our goal has to be to take the chances…," he added.

Bangladesh batsmen have to put up a much better show to make a fight out of it when the first Test of the two-match series begins on Thursday.

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IANS