At least he can be rest assured that Mahela's Bangladesh counterpart Mohammad Ashraful is not going to entertain the concept of 'the best batsmen should bat up the order' when Bangladesh launch their one last challenge to end the first-innings batting blues at Kandy's Asgiriya Stadium today.

After winning the second Test in Colombo inside three days, Mahela questioned why Bangladesh's two top batsmen -- Habibul Bashar and Ashraful -- came to bat at number five and six respectively when the match was all but over following the quick demise of the top-order.

"Habibul and Ashraful are the most experience guys in the top order but surprisingly they came to bat at number five and six when the job had almost been done. No doubt it helped us a lot because the least experienced guys were clueless against our bowlers," the Lankan skipper told the reporters at the Asgiriya Stadium yesterday.

"Team's best batsman should take the responsibility and must show the courage to go up the order to stop early collapses as well shaping the foundation to be more competitive," he said.

"I do agree that in every team the best batsman should bat at number three or four but I feel comfortable batting at number five. I batted at number six in the last match under special circumstances. And the fact is that I feel comfortable against Murali that's why I think it's better for me to bat at number five. But I'm not afraid of taking the challenge of batting up the order," said Ashraful.

Ashraful is arguably the best batsman in the Bangladesh ranks and it raised a few eyebrows when he batted at number six in the second innings of the second Test.

Although he made a hundred, it was a little too late to avoid yet another innings defeat. The 23-year-old even had expressed his disappointment for running out of partners after young wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim was dismissed shortly after the tea break on the third day and Bangladesh lost their last five wickets in a whisker.

People blamed former Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore for batting Ashraful down the order, but now he can easily take up the challenge with a bigger responsibility on his shoulders. However it seemed Ashraful resorted to a defensive approach against a team he struck three of his four Test hundreds.

"Rajin is good against the new ball that's why he batted at number three. Besides, we thought that there should be someone who can recover the early damage," said Ashraful while defending his decision.

Ashraful however dismissed his counterpart's claim that most of the Bangladeshi players looked relaxed in the middle and they were not feisty enough to occupy the crease.

"I don't think we got relaxed and it's also not true that we lacked seriousness. If he (Mahela) meant we tried to enjoy the game then I am happy with that. I know it's a tough ride and nothing could be achieved overnight. Sri Lanka also couldn't achieve anything overnight," he said.

About the inclusion of Tushar Imran, the new Bangladesh captain expressed his guarded optimism.

"He is a good player but we should be careful about expectations because he has joined the team in the middle of the tour. Mehrab's omission is a bit unfortunate but he will definitely be back. We were forced to bring Tushar after Shakib (Al Hasan) failed to fulfil our expectation although he is very good player," he explained.