Miraz urges spinners to step up in Shakib's absence

Shakib Al Hasan has been ruled out of the second Test match against the West Indies in Mirpur because of a left thigh strain. All-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz feels that the rest of the spinners need to step up in Shakib's absence and learn from the mistakes.

While speaking to the media after practice on Tuesday, Miraz said, "We missed Shakib (Al Hasan) Bhai a lot on the fifth day of the first Test. Unfortunately, he was out injured. If he had been there on the field, he would've bowled well as well as helped us with his experience. We will play without him in Mirpur. In his absence, we the spinners need to step up and make sure that we do not let them get away easily."

Miraz said that the pitch in Chattogram on day five didn't assist much but admitted that they didn't bowl very well. "Nothing much happened on day five. We didn't see any uneven bounce or prodigious turn. There were some rough areas but those were way outside the stumps. But we didn't bowl too well. We bowled one or two boundary balls every over and they capitalised. Taijul (Islam) Bhai bowled well and if I and Nayeem (Hasan) could provide him with the support, the result would've been different. We didn't grab the opportunities. But we will try not to repeat the same mistakes in the next match."

Miraz is trying to take some positives out of the first Test and wants to bounce back in the next. He said, "At no point did we think that we would lose the match. The way they played was really unexpected as some of their players made their debut in the match. It was their day and they outplayed us. But we dominated them until the fifth day and that is a positive sign. We had an off-day, that's all. Now that they have won a match, a win for us in the second will surely be a great comeback."

The all-rounder, on his batting, mentioned, "I used to bat in the middle order in age-level cricket. Now it's not possible for me to do so in the national team as there are more accomplished batsmen in the team. I may get opportunities after 4-5 years. But for that, I have to keep myself mentally prepared and work hard on my weaknesses."

Three wickets on day five of the first would help Miraz become only the fourth cricketer in Test cricket history to score a hundred and pick up 10 wickets in a match. But he is more disappointed with the team's defeat. "It (not being able to create the record) doesn't make me sad. What disappoints me is that we lost the match. At the end of the day, we play for the team. Yes, it's a great feeling to score my maiden Test hundred. But I need to improve. The competition is so tough in international cricket that you need to up your standard every day to survive," he concluded.