Mushy safe for now but …

Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan Papon has categorically said that Mushfiqur Rahim will captain the Tigers for the one-off Test against India next month. However, he also revealed that the board will fix a more definitive role for Mushfiqur in the Test team by the end of this year.

The president feels that the triple responsibility—batting, wicket-keeping and captaincy—is 'too stressful' for the player and that the board will discuss the matter with Mushfiqur.

"I personally felt that both the captaincy and the performance of our players in the last Test was poor. We are not happy. The mentality of the players wasn't right. One can't just hit the ball and survive two straight days," Papon told The Daily Star yesterday. 

"With regards to Test captaincy, if we can get a substitute, we will think about it. But at this point of time we don't have any. We feel that for a player to keep, bat and captain a side together is too stressful. For him to stand behind the wicket all day and then play a long innings… the whole scenario can become a little demanding.

"We would want to lessen the burden on him. It's still not decided as to how we are going to do that. But the obvious move would be for him to compromise with either one duty; keeping or captaincy. We will discuss the issue with him before taking any steps," he added.

The BCB appoints the captains and vice-captains of the ODI and Test teams on a series-by-series basis. While Mushfiqur's roles as captain and wicketkeeper will be under observation, no changes are likely to be made prior to the India series in June.

"I don't think there needs to be any change prior to the India series. Let us see what happens. But we will definitely have to come to a solution by the end of this year," said Papon.

Following the captain and the team management's decision to bowl first in the second Test, Mushfiqur, not for the first time in his career, came under heavy scrutiny from various quarters.

The move was described as defensive and was criticised since the Tigers had fielded eight batsmen in the side. While there was grass on the wicket, the team management had selected just two specialist pacers in the second Test. The entire game-plan, on the whole, came under fire later on.

In his defence, Mushfiqur said that they had played young Soumya Sarkar as the third pacer in the side and that things 'could have been different' had Shahadat Hossain not been injured.

The other decision that raised a few eyebrows was regarding Mushfiqur's keeping. The skipper had hurt his ring finger in the first Test and that compelled Imrul Kayes, a part-time keeper, to stand behind the wickets for more than a day.

While a section of the team management reportedly wanted Mushfiqur to just play as a batsman in the second Test, the skipper however, reportedly didn't agree to the move. Mushfiqur, who scored just 44 runs in the series at an average of 11, later admitted that the injury did affect his batting to a certain extent.