Published on 09:30 PM, January 02, 2018

Pacers need to be more consistent: Mashrafe

Bangladesh ODI captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza marshals some of his pace bowlers during the training session at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on January 2. Photo: Firoz Ahmed

Despite coming to the fore in 2015 Bangladesh's fast bowlers were unable to keep the graph upwards, which has been one of the biggest concerns for the Tigers in 2017.

Tigers' ODI skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza was the second-best performer after Mustafizur Rahman among the pacers and picked up 13 wickets in as many games at an average of 49.53 in 2017.

The 34-year-old pacer, however, admits that the fast bowlers need to be more consistent in the upcoming year and contribute to win more matches.

"If you look at the last three-four years, you will see pacers performed well in winning the matches. On the other hand, in losing matches pacers failed to perform. So our pacers have lacked consistency and if the bowlers can bowl consistently in 9-10 games on the trot I think we will have more chances. The matches we have won, if we can replicate those, then I think the pacers can do well," Mashrafe told reporters after the training session at the Academy ground in Mirpur.

The ongoing training camp, under technical director Khaled Mahmud, is partly focused on working with the fast bowlers and the team management is looking to get the best out of the seamers -- including their contributions with the bat -- in the upcoming series.