I may not play in 2019 World Cup: Mashrafe

Senior Correspondent :  Captain of Bangladesh ODI team, Mashrafe Mortaza on Thursday conceded that his team needs to get mentally tougher in crunch games, which has been their undoing in big-ticket tournaments. Bangladesh suffered a nine-wicket defeat at the hands of India in the semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy here.

We have repeated these mistakes often in big matches. This was a match where we should have scored 330 but ended up scoring 264. We need to get mentally tough in these situations and when we come back next time, may be correct mistakes,” Mortaza said at the post-match press conference.

May be quality and skill-wise we are not lacking but you need to get mentally tougher as to what needs to be done in big matches like these. We need to ask ourselves some questions as to whether we were ready to defend 264. May be that’s what we need to ask ourselves, said the skipper.

He expects that the youngsters would step up and not depend on players like Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah all the time.We don’t have too many back-up options. Some of these youngsters have played for 3-4 years so it’s not fair to just drop them. We have to persist with them and also believe they can get mentally tougher,” he said.

Asked if he is mulling his future and whether he would be playing in the 2019 World Cup, he said: May be, may be not. I am still enjoying my game.The inspirational captain added, You never know. I have not thought about it. So as long as I enjoy it, I’ll keep playing.

Then, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza concluded, The boys should feel proud. In a tournament like this, you have to be physically and skill-wise not too bad. Yes, we are coming up still. We need to learn so many things. We have got to be a little bit more ready mentally to play this sort of match. I know once you are ready mentally, anything can be possible.