Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim warned his side about the challenge of keeping up the consistency, stating that complacency could be distracting as there are still some rooms to improve their performance.

He specially advised the young players, who enjoyed greater success right after their debut, to keep their feet in the ground. Youngsters, like Soumya Sarkar, Mustafizur Rahman and Liton Das have been the catalyst in Bangladesh’s overwhelming success of late but the captain thought there is nothing to be proud of the performance because what they have done, is their responsibility towards the team.
“We had a team meeting where we tried to give them a message: you can’t play this game everyday and the bad days will come at some point. We tried to remind them that they reaped the rewards of their hard work and good job and they have the responsibility to keep it up,” the captain told the reporters yesterday.
“We also told them that they have nothing to be proud. Scoring 100 or 50, taking three or five wickets is their job and that’s why they are in the national team. Yes bad time may come at some point but they need to enjoy the cricket. So they shouldn’t be complacent of their good work. The challenge is to maintain the consistency.”
The captain claimed that this Bangladesh team set a benchmark, playing an extra ordinary cricket over the last eight months. He stressed on to prolong the good times with improving the areas in what they had showed their shortcomings.
“We had set a benchmark by winning four straight ODI series, playing a good cricket in the last eight Tests. There are rooms to improve which we should look at. We need to keep up the consistency what I think is a great challenge,” he pointed out.
“Australia is coming almost after two months. Series against them would be a testament about our ability. So we need to show the consistency what we have been showing. After a long international schedule, there will be a break for us which is also important. This time is to enjoy the achievement what we earned as of now. Then we’ll return to usual business.”
Bangladesh gained six rating points from the drawn series while South Africa lost five even though it didn’t leave any impact on the two team’s rankings but Mushfiqur Rahim was not happy to earn the rating points by the blessings of the rain. He claimed that they had had the advantage in both of the Tests and the result could have been in their favour had the weather allows a complete game.
“Playing against them would increase our experience and more importantly could give us the best preparation, specially when the series against Australia is ahead. You can’t bowl out South Africa under 250 everyday, that’s what we did in the first Test. In the tricky wicket in second Test, we managed 246. I don’t think they would get it easy to bat in this wicket.”
Bangladesh so far drew four series after 47 Test series they played in on and off the country. They drew the series against Zimbabwe at their soil in 2011 and against New Zealand in 2013 at home. This year they drew the series against India and now South Africa, both of which were rained out to draw.
This Test is the 11th shortest match in terms of balls as only 529 balls were bowled in just a single day. It registered the first-ever series draw between the countries after rain had forced the Chittagong Test to a similar outcome after 221 overs possible.
“There were some patches in the ground. It was impossible to dry it up if there is no sun shine. They perhaps think there is no way to resume the game so in that sense it is disappointing.”
“It was tough to keep the whole ground under cover. 90 percent of the ground was covered but those 10 percent was not covered couldn’t be dried up after three days of rain. The drainage system was fantastic but you can’t do anything if rain continues to pour down. We heard the decision about the draw when we were warming up. It’s a new experience for us to know the decision even 30 minutes before the resumption of the game.”
Mushfiqur also feels great after getting back to amongst runs, ending his 12 innings long Test fifty drought but stressed to make the innings longer. He echoed the sentiment of Mahmudullah Riyad who termed it as ‘crime’ of not carrying the good start.
Mushfiqur was adjudged the man of the match, while South African pacer Dale Steyn received the man of the series award. The ‘Best Bangladeshi Performer in Test’ award went to top ranking batsman Mominul Haque.