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Mashrafe not questioning captaincy role after India shellacking

Mashrafe not questioning captaincy role after India shellacking

Mashrafe Mortaza remains undecided over his future as Bangladesh captain in the immediate aftermath of their thrashing at the hands of India.

The Tigers were resoundingly beaten by nine wickets in Thursday's ICC Champions Trophy semi at Edgbaston as Virat Kohli's side reached their second straight final.

From a promising position at 154-2 with more than 20 overs remaining, Bangladesh could only struggle to 264-7 - a total swiftly put into perspective by Rohit Sharma (123no) and Kohli (96no).

With the next global ICC 50-over event not coming around until the World Cup in 2019, Mashrafe was asked whether he would choose to continue as skipper for the next two years.

"I haven't decided. I mean, I'm still enjoying it, so maybe, maybe not," he said.

"You never know. I have not thought about it. So as long as I enjoy it, I'll keep playing."

Tamim Iqbal (70) and Mushfiqur Rahim (61) put on 123 for Bangladesh's third wicket but both fell to the part-time spin of Kedar Jadhav as the Tigers lost momentum, and Mashrafe pointed to that double-strike as crucial in their defeat.

"I think we could have had a big total. The way we had been playing, Tamim and Mushfiqur, they get out [to a] part-time [spinner], it's always difficult," he said.

"That time we had been at the top. It could have been easily 330, 340 but suddenly wickets fall from there and Shakib [Al Hasan] and Riyad [Mahmudullah] couldn't go through. So it's always difficult from there to score 300."

Mashrafe spoke in his pre-match news conference about alleviating the pressure on his players and believes the way Tamim and Mushfiqur played was evidence his approach had paid off.

"Well, you have to [treat it as any other game]. I mean, we knew that it was going to be a difficult match," he said. 

"But yes, I think if you're talking about the pressure, I think the way Tamim and Mushfiqur batted, even in the way Sabbir Rahman started, it didn't look like we are tense. But once we lose wickets in the middle patches, it becomes difficult."