BANGLADESH

Mushfiqur Rahim, the Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batsman, has said that he will give his best if he is made the captain of the national team. He is touted to be Shakib Al Hasan's successor after the all-rounder was sacked from the captaincy last Monday along with vice-captain Tamim Iqbal.

Mushfiqur was the only remaining protagonist left to say his piece in the ongoing drama of Bangladesh cricket. So after Shakib, coach Stuart Law and Tamim had spoken, Mushfiqur's words, more due to his current standing in the team, were much awaited. And as it turned out, he was confident about the captaincy that is supposedly headed his way.

"I am also hearing it from the media but my main target is to perform well in the coming series against West Indies. As a team, we are also looking forward to the next assignment. I will try my best if it (captaincy) is coming my way," he said, reports ESPNcricinfo.

Mushfiqur emphasised the need for a team performance in the West Indies series next month, a theme that went missing on the recent tour of Zimbabwe. Bangladesh were expected to prevail against Zimbabwe, who were making their Test return after five years out of the format, but slid to an embarrassing 130-run loss in the only Test in Harare.

Bangladesh's misery continued in the five-match ODI series that followed, as they went down 0-3 before winning the dead rubbers.

"Our batting and fielding was poor and that was the reason behind the failure in Zimbabwe. I don't think there was anything else other than that behind the debacle.

"There were some individual performances but as a team we could not perform well, so our main target would be to perform well as a team against West Indies," said Mushfiqur, who added that discipline was never an issue.

"If you travel with other teams, you can understand how disciplined we are as a team. As our coach said, we are the most disciplined side both on and off the field."

And much like Tamim and the coach, Mushfiqur too praised the man who was removed from the captaincy.

"Shakib is our key player and it's always an advantage for a performer to lead the team. He was excellent as a captain and performed with the bat, ball and also he was superb in his fielding. He always motivated us as a captain."