CRICKET POLL

Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain took responsibility for his team's three-wicket defeat to Zimbabwe in the opener of the two-Test series in Sylhet. Bangladesh went into Day 3 with a lead of 109 runs with four wickets in hand and had Najmul in the middle, batting on 60.

However, Najmul was dismissed on the second ball of the day as he top edged a pull shot against Blessing Muzarabani. From thereon, the visitors dctated terms as Bangladesh folded for 255 and set them a target of 174.

"If you ask me about this match as a captain, we lost because of me. That's the truth," Najmul said after the match. "My wicket in the morning ruined the whole match. If we had added 50-60 more runs at that time, we would have been in a better position. I am taking all the responsibilities (for the loss) since my dismissal came at a very bad time," he added.

Najmul reckoned his batters fell to soft dismissal in the game and that the issues are more to do with the mental side of things rather than skill.

"It is difficult to say what the problem is because most of the dismissals were soft. I don't think we gave wickets to lot of good balls and its more mental than skill. I think we should take more responsibility because we are getting out after getting set."

"We should play on sporting wickets," Najmul added while talking of the kind of pitches Bangladesh should play Test cricket on. "This was a very good wicket - batters had an advantage, bowlers got help too. I think we shouldn't look back. We should keep playing on sporting wickets. I believe we'll get a similar surface in the next Test," Najmul said.

"We played poor cricket. I hope the pitch remains similar in the next match too. I don't think we need to take excessive home advantage just because we've lost a game. It depends on the opposition, but I believe this kind of wicket suits the contest," he said.

Najmul also backed the under-fire veteran Mushfiqur Rahim, who is going through a lean patch. Mushfiqur has not crossed single-digit scores in his last six innings and hasn't scored a half-century in 12 innings.

"He( Mushfiqur) is an experienced cricketer. He contributes beyond batting - he's part of planning during fielding, he helps the batters, and he's vocal during practice. Of course, his batting is important. I don't think he's thinking about past milestones or achievements, and neither am I. I hope he makes a comeback in the next match. I haven't given up hope-he's bounced back from similar phases before," concluded the skipper.

Bangladesh will play their second Test against Zimbabwe at Chattogram from April 28.