'I'm still not at my best'

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's crucial opening spell, which saw him take three wickets, pegged back Zimbabwe early in their innings. The captain however was repentant that he failed to give his best in yesterday's match.

"It's good that I got the wickets, but honestly speaking, I feel that only 80 per cent of my deliveries were landing in the right areas. I feel that I am not able to give my best as yet. It's not as though I would get more wickets if I were, but it's about getting that sense of satisfaction," Mashrafe told reporters at the post-match press conference here.

"For instance, against India and West Indies, I was happy with the way I bowled, regardless of the number of wickets I got. I was consistent. But I am not able to do that now, maybe because of the lack of bowling. Hopefully I will come back," the pacer further explained.

There were a number of changes made in the batting order yesterday, with Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Sabbir Rahman promoted up the order. Unfortunately, the move did not click for the Tigers, with a series of wickets falling after the century-stand by the openers. The changes in the order, according to Mashrafe, were made to give the 'best batsmen' in the side maximum time at the crease.

"Honestly speaking, I think our partnership was so good that it was a bit confusing for the other batsmen. Because we are not used to such situations we probably did not read the situation well. We need to improve on this.

"The openers had already played up to 26 to 28 overs so we wanted Shakib and Mushfiqur who are in form to get maximum number of overs so that they could accelerate the score. Sabbir played a good knock in the first ODI as well, so we wanted to give him more time," explained Mashrafe. 

As a result of the move, Mominul, who scored a quick 33, had to bat at number seven.

"Mominul will definitely play at three for us, but it was also necessary to give our best batsmen strike. He was unlucky, but then again he showed us that he can bat well at number seven too.

When asked about the turning points of the game, Mashrafe talked about Mominul's innings at the end and Elton Chigumbura's run out.

"In that short time Mominul played a very good innings. Chigumbura's run out by Sabbir was also crucial because there have been times when he has played big innings from such situations," said Mashrafe.

On the other hand Zimbabwe captain, Elton Chigumbura blamed the defeat on his batsmen.

"I thought 280 in the first game was also chaseable, but we just made the same mistakes again, we lost too many wickets. There were a few parts where the bowlers bowled well and the fielders were enthusiastic, but we failed with the bat," said Chigumbura, adding that he hoped for a comeback in Dhaka.