Sports Desk:

Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto dismissed the notion that they played for personal milestones in the Galle Test, which fizzled out to a draw at the end.

“I can assure you that in our dressing room, no one plays for personal

milestones,” Shanto said while talking to the reporters in Colombo, the venue of the second and final Test, which begins from Wednesday.

With Bangladesh declaring the second innings late on Day 5, critics lashed at out Shanto and veteran Mushfiqur Rahim, saying that they were reluctant to push the scoreboard rapidly to set a specific target for Sri Lanka as quicker as possible.

When Bangladesh declared by setting a 296-run target, Sri Lanka had just 32 overs to play. Shanto followed his first innings 148 with 125 not out in the second innings, becoming the only 15th batter in world cricket history to hit centuries in both innings of a Test more than once.

Critics pointed out Shanto’s slow approach before the century while they also came down heavily on Mushfiqur Rahim to play without any purpose. Mushfiqur eventually was trapped run out on 49 by taking a quick single. They cited that for his half-century, Mushfiqur who made 163 in the first innings, was desperate.

“Mushfiqur Rahim has played cricket for years-one single run doesn’t change anything for him. We all know what he has done for our team,” Shanto said,

adding that their plan to declare the innings was jeopardized by sudden rain.

“There is nothing like a personal milestone, as I said earlier. We couldn’t execute the decision we had taken because of the rain,” he remarked.

According to him, the wicket was still good to bat on when they were batting on Day 5 and so a declaration without adequate runs on the board could have been suicidal.

“And the wicket didn’t break up as we expected. That’s why we didn’t declare at that time. We wanted our safety first.”

He noted that the inexperienced bowling attack also influenced their decision on declaration.

“Our bowling attack is inexperienced. If we had Taskin or Miraz, it would have been a different story,” he said.

“But those who played did an excellent job and never gave up. Only because of the conditions and rain, we couldn’t take that risk,” he concluded.