Asia Cup 2018: Winning a Tournament is Very Important Now - Mashrafe Mortaza

Bangladesh is facing a lot of criticism after the 14th edition of Asia Cup, and Mashrafe Mortaza wants to win a tournament badly. After head coach Steve Rhodes uttered high hopes for the team’s future, skipper Mashrafe Mortaza also echoed Rhodes saying it becomes necessary to win a title.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh was close to lifting their maiden Asia Cup title. However, India was able to elude them from the first major tournament win. In fact, the Tigers have thus far won only bilateral series and are yet to grab their first big tournament.

Bangladesh could not apply the finishing touches.

“Somehow we are unable to make it count [in the final]. If we can earn success on one occasion than probably it will become much easier,”  Mashrafe Mortaza said.

However, Mashrafe Mortaza said that the Tigers started their innings well, but the middle-order batsman looked nervous. They were playing shots with a lot of pressure. Mortaza also told that if Bangladesh could get some support from the middle-order then they could post a target of 260-270 runs.

“The way we started it never looked like we were nervous but on the same hand the way our middle-order played it looked we were nervous. They were playing shots like they were in a lot of pressure whereas if we just played sensible cricket we could have easily scored 260-270 runs considering the way we started,” Mashrafe Mortaza said.

Moreover, Bangladesh also played in the absence of experienced Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan. Bangladesh fired profoundly till they lost track of batting at one stage.

“Mental aspect plays a big part during those times and to remove this psychological hurdle it is very important that we win a tournament. Perhaps then we can win big tournaments in future,” Mashrafe Mortaza added.

When he was asked about the controversial decision of judging Litton Das stumped out, Mashrafe said, “See, I’ve already been punished with 40% of my match fees for overrating. I don’t want any more of it.”

Bangladesh was not able to provide the finishing touches in the final of the Asia Cup. However, the Tigers were able to give India a run for their money.