Same old excuses from Mominul

Bangladesh Test captain Mominul Haque once again gave the same old excuses for their dismal performances in South Africa upon his return to Bangladesh on Wednesday.

The Tigers lost both Tests, got all-out twice for a score below 100, and failed to negotiate the South Africa spinners. Mominul kept on saying almost the same things at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, which he had already said after the defeat.

Mominul played his 50th and 51st Test for Bangladesh in South Africa, Mushfiqur Rahim played his 79th and 80th Test, while Tamim Iqbal played his 65th Test match. Yet, the captain is vocal about the learning process.

“Whether we win or lose, we must learn. You can never stop learning because without learning you cannot grow. I think we have many things to learn yet. We need to learn how to handle spin well, how to dominate sessions, use of the new ball and old ball,” he said about the very basic skills of playing a Test.

Even after 22 years of playing Tests, Bangladesh are struggling to find the right skill-set and players to prosper in the format. It is evident in the selection process as Bangladesh have handed Test caps to 100 cricketers in 130 Tests played, where they have won only 16.

Mominul has been repeating what his predecessors said through the years, and on Wednesday, he told the reporters those once again.

“This is not the first time we are facing such a situation. We have been through this many times and we know how to come out of this situation,” said the Test skipper.

His performance was also very poor in South Africa as he could amalgamate only 16 runs from four innings. Mominul’s performance drops significantly when he plays abroad, especially outside the sub-continent.

Mominul’s batting average is 39.48, but it comes down to 27 away from home. Out of 6575 career runs, he has scored only 2618 runs outside the country. Among his 11 Test hundreds, 10 are at home.

Despite all the contrasts, Mominul is not even a bit worried about his form or even captaincy.

“If the team does not perform, any captain in the world will be under pressure. If you see (Joe) Root, he has scored five or six centuries in a year but still faces pressure. Captaincy is such a thing that pressure will come from any direction when your team is not performing. You have to bear that pressure. If you represent the country as a captain, pressure will come, and you have to handle it,” said the Test captain.

On the other hand, Mominul told the media to lower expectations.

“Maybe your expectations were a bit high. Probably many of you thought that we have become the top Test team after winning a match (against New Zealand). But that’s not right. Bangladesh are a stable team in ODIs, but the Test team is not,” he said.