After embarrassing loss against Bangladesh in the opening match of the Asia Cup, Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews bemoaned a “bad effort” by his side but was also quick to praise Mushfiqur, whose knock of 144 turned the game on its head.
“It was a bad effort by the whole team, after having them three down for three runs. We dropped too many catches,” Mathews said.
“Mushfiqur (Rahim) batted really well. I had to use Lasith (Malinga) to try and get a wicket in the middle part of the innings,” he added. “260 was a chaseable total; it’s unfortunate that the batters didn’t deliver today. We lost too many wickets too early.”
Mushfiqur, who received the Man of the Match for his performance, stated that he was glad to get a win in the first game. He also said that this was one of his best knocks for Bangladesh
“Thanks to Almightly that he gave me the strength. This was the first game so we knew we had to win to qualify for the next round. Credit goes to Mithun, he took the pressure off me,” he said.
“I thought I was in great knick, I was determined to score runs for my team. The wicket was good, it was easy to hit boundaries with five fielders inside the ring till the 40th over.
