Mushy apologises for debacle

The match lasted for just 83 minutes on the fifth day and the two press conferences by captains Mushfiqur Rahim, Faf du Plessis and player-of-the-match Dean Elgar took 35 minutes. Mushfiqur's alone was around 17 minutes and it was appropriate because after the Bangladesh pressers of the previous four days, not to mention their performances on the field, there was much to be explained.

With time, the first Test against South Africa in Potchefstroom -- which Bangladesh lost by 333 runs yesterday -- will likely be remembered as much for the Tigers' play as their verbal responses after each day's play, which ranged from the flippant to the absurd.

After the Test was lost, for the first time a member of the leadership group in Mushfiqur faced the music. Also for the first time, there was genuine regret and contrition as Mushfiqur delved upon what a loss during which he said Bangladesh lacked character.

"It is disappointing. I don't remember the last time we batted like this or were out for under a hundred," said the downcast skipper. "I knew it wouldn't have been easy to face their bowlers on the fifth day although the wicket was good. I thought we would at least bat for two sessions today. There are ways to lose or draw a game but we didn't show our skill and character. I am really hurt. I apologise to our nation."

As he had done before the Test, he stressed upon the need for his players to show more courage and guts, which begged the question about whether that courage was being exhausted in press conferences.

"I don't think it is a matter of overconfidence. Some of them were not even in the Test team, like Mominul [Haque] and Mahmudullah [Riyad], who had to establish themselves. To be honest if we could have been gutsier, we could have handled it better. It wasn't an unplayable wicket. You don't get these wickets in South Africa so this was a very good opportunity for us. We should have fought better in the second innings. I think after a long time I saw our batting team being defeated before the defeat itself."

The decision at the toss was so surprising that both South African and Bangladeshi journalists wanted some light to be shed on the issue. "All of us took the decision. None of us knew about this sort of wicket in South Africa," said Mushfiqur, although he had said before the match that the pitch looked dry and would take spin as the days wore on, a pretty accurate reading in hindsight. "It was hard for us to predict such a wicket. We practised on a totally different wicket. On any flat wicket, the help for the bowlers come within the first two hours. If you think about what will happen in the fourth innings and then get bowled out for 100 in the first innings, it becomes difficult.

"I think the second innings was the best time to bat but we still didn't score 400-500 runs. So you can't say that had we batted first, we would have scored 500 runs. But yes, had we applied ourselves better on the second or third day, we could have scored more runs."

"You can say that we should have batted first on a flat wicket but I don't believe our bowlers can't bowl in a flat wicket. At least they could have bowled in the right areas, if not take wickets. This skill gets you to play for the national team. Even I could have bowled two balls out of six in the right place. The bowlers disappointed me a lot in the first innings. A team benefits if you can at least contain the runs when you can't take the wickets."

Such was the abject nature of Bangladesh's cricket, a South African journalist asked if Shakib Al Hasan -- sitting out the Test leg of the tour -- would be back for the second Test. "So far I don't think there is any chance but we will have a look. Our chief selector is here, he will know more about it. Hopefully we will have a look and decide then."