Mushfiqur Rahim’s captaincy came under the scanner after Bangladesh threw away another potential win against Pakistan despite putting up a record total of 326-3 in Tuesday’s Asia Cup match in Dhaka. Bangladesh lost the match by three wickets to end their chances of making it into the final, rendering their last match against Sri Lanka meaningless. Cricket fans and former national captains were taken aback by his premeditated game plan, devoid of any creativity or innovation even though
he had enough runs on the board to experiment.
Medium pacer Ziaur Rahman remained completely unused as Mushfiq mostly preferred to operate with his traditional guns, which only backfired.
This is not the first time Mushfiq has been criticised for his captaincy, which has also been questioned in many corners after other matches, particularly the one against Afghanistan.
Though his batting ability and commitment remain beyond question, the leadership required to make the difference was largely missing in both the Afghanistan and Pakistan matches as Bangladesh let victory slip away.
When Afghanistan was struggling on 90-5, Mushfiq decided to carry on with the part-time bowlers and save his best for the batting powerplay, but by the time the batting powerplay arrived both batsmen were well set to launch a counterattack.
‘I think he is not dynamic,’ former national captain Aminul Islam said on Wednesday.
‘Instead of going for the kill, he became defensive in the Afghanistan match. That shows he lacks the mental courage to take chances.’
‘In this era you cannot go far with this approach.’
Aminul also noticed that the national skipper did not bother to take the time to arrange a group meeting with senior players during the match against Pakistan, which could have certainly changed the scenario.
Instead of taking a new and innovative approach, he decided to carry on with his customary bowling changes, which could have been shuffled a bit to catch the opposition off-guard.
Mushfiq changed Abdur Razzak after four overs to hold him back for the end even though the bowler was keeping it tight, which Aminul, who led Bangladesh to their only victory against Pakistan, cited as an example of copy-book captaincy.
‘No doubt Razzak is a good bowler, but he could have served better if used in tandem rather than looking to do magic at the end,’ said Aminul.
‘Afridi was batting awesome against the spinners; that could easily be challenged by introducing medium pacer Ziaur Rahman.’
Another former captain, Khaled Mahmud, raised questions over the team selection, which is completed with the approval of the skipper and coach Shane Jurgensen.
‘Arafat Sunny bowled well in the previous match, but we opted to drop him, something that I am yet to figure out,’ said Mahmud.
‘Even taking Shafiul looks to be costly, going through his recent form,’ he added.
-With New Age input
