Najmul Hossain backs Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah despite failures in must-win game

Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain has backed senior players Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah despite their failure to deliver in the team's must-win Champions Trophy match against New Zealand.

Bangladesh, who lost their opening game against India by six wickets, were knocked out of the tournament after New Zealand handed them a five-wicket defeat in their second group-stage match.

Mahmudullah, returning to the XI after recovering from a calf muscle injury, failed to rise to the occasion, scoring just four runs, while Mushfiqur managed only two.

At 97/3, Bangladesh looked set to post a competitive total, and the responsibility lay with the senior duo to take the game deep. However, they failed in an embarrassing manner, especially after young Towhid Hridoy departed while attempting an aggressive approach against off-spinner Michael Bracewell.

Bracewell tore through the middle order, picking up 4 for 26 and making Bangladesh pay heavily for their shot selection.

Mushfiqur, who last scored an ODI fifty in March 2024 against Sri Lanka and had made 26*, 37*, 1, and 0 in his previous innings before the New Zealand match, perished while trying to take the game on. He went for a big slog-sweep against a delivery tossed outside the off-stump by Bracewell but only managed to find Rachin Ravindra at deep mid-wicket.

The onus then fell on Mahmudullah, who had scored four fifties in his last four ODI innings, to steady the ship. However, his dismissal was equally disappointing, charging down the wicket in an attempt to clear the ropes, he got a thick edge to short third man, where William O'Rourke took a simple catch.

The decision to drop Soumya Sarkar to accommodate Mahmudullah, alongside the out-of-form Mushfiqur, raised eyebrows, with many feeling that the senior players were automatic selections regardless of their form. Najmul, however, disagreed.

"There is no automatic choice in this team," Najmul said when asked whether senior cricketers were considered indispensable.

"Soumya bats at the top, and Riyad (Mahmudullah) bhai bats in the lower middle order. So, if Soumya played, we would have had to shuffle our batting order a lot. It was necessary for Riyad bhai to play because, if you look at his last four to five innings, he batted well. So, Riyad bhai was important," he explained.

"And I was not worried about Mushfiq bhai's last five innings because his keeping is very important. Over the years, we have seen his contributions to the team. He might have failed in the last three innings, but in the next match, he can make a comeback," he added.

"I don't want to see the two seniors differently. As a team, we did not play the match well. It's not about having sky-high expectations because they are seniors. We did not perform well as a batting group," he said.

Najmul pointed out that Bangladesh consumed 179 dot balls in the innings and struggled due to frequent wickets falling in the middle overs.

"I think we could have batted better against him (Bracewell). As I said, we made some poor shot selections. If we had planned better against him, we wouldn't have lost so many wickets. Certainly, he bowled well, but there was some poor execution," Najmul admitted.

"But if you look at the dot balls today, we lost a wicket or two after every five to ten overs. That makes it difficult for batsmen to rotate the strike. If we had built two big partnerships, this wouldn't have happened," he added.

Najmul expressed his disappointment at Bangladesh's early exit and stressed the need for a change in approach, especially in scoring 300-plus totals consistently.

"I think we need to perform well in all departments. One day, we bat well at the top and another day, we bat well in the middle. Some days, we field well. It's a messy situation. If we can play collectively, we can do well in tournaments like this and against big teams," he said.

"It's very disappointing as a captain. If you look at our bowling unit over the last couple of years, we have done a great job. We have quality fast bowlers and spinners. We always wanted a wrist-spinner, and now we have one. But as a batting and fielding unit, we need to improve a lot. I have said it multiple times, we keep making the same mistakes over and over. We really need to focus on how to improve our batting. I hope after this tournament, we will make some changes in our approach and think differently about how to improve our batting," he added.

"As for changes, I'm not talking about changing players. We need to change our mindset, how we contribute to the team and take responsibility while batting. If we keep changing players frequently, playing one batsman today and another tomorrow, it becomes difficult for them. We need to back our resources and take responsibility. There is a gap when it comes to accountability," he said.

Najmul insisted that Bangladesh's public goal of winning the Champions Trophy did not put extra pressure on the team. Instead, he argued that dreaming big is essential.

"No, I don't think that way. Every player in the team came here with that dream (to be champions). If we don't dream big, how can we play? We didn't come here just to compete; we came here to win. The result didn't go our way, but our team likes to dream big. However, dreaming alone won't help, we need to work towards that dream. It didn't happen in this tournament, but we still have a match left, and we need to focus on how to do well there," he concluded.

Bangladesh will end their Champions Trophy campaign with their last group-stage game against Pakistan, scheduled for February 27 in Rawalpindi. Their failure to turn their dream into reality could also mark the end of their senior campaigners' participation in ICC events, considering their age and current form.