Mashrafe Mortaza defends Mushfiqur Rahim over run out blunder

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza defended Mushfiqur Rahim after he hit the stumps with his elbow when trying to run out Kane Williamson. The incident took place in the 12th over of the New Zealand innings when the Ross Taylor - Williamson partnership was at an embryonic stage.

As the two batsmen got involved in a mix-up, Tamim Iqbal threw the ball from mid-on with Williamson still well short of the crease and almost given up. But Mushfiqur took the ball in front of the stumps, with his feet behind, and tried to break the stumps. Straight away Tamim and Shakib reacted in a way that suggested they knew what had happened, while the rest of the stadium were cheering the big wicket.

Williamson and Taylor went on to add 105 runs for the third wicket, that set New Zealand in the right path.

Mashrafe, who was also following the ball closely during that incident, said that he wouldn't blame Mushfiqur for the mistake and expects him to bounce back from it quickly. He said that with the catches he had taken off Taylor and Colin de Grandhomme, Mushfiqur had already started to make amends.

"I don't think we need to go after Mushfiqur," Mashrafe said. "He was also trying hard to get him out. That throw was straight, but as a keeper it was hard to know if it was straight or not. Suddenly the stumps hit his elbow, but it happens. Mushfiqur is a professional player. He knows how to handle all of this. It is not as if this was the first mistake in Mushfiqur's life. Every player makes mistakes.

WATCH - Highlights of Mushfiqur's error on Hotstar (India only)

"For example, in the last match Soumya dropped a catch, but he has caught many difficult ones before that. I think that it can happen with Mushfiqur, and that it may happen again is a normal thing. We are not here to blame anyone, we are here to give our best. Even after that, the catches that Mushfiqur took off Ross Taylor and Grandhomme, those could have been turning points.

"I don't think there is a need to create pressure for anyone and neither do I think that he needs to think about this. If everything goes well in the next match, you will see that everything is fine again."

Mashrafe said that falling 30 runs short of their desired total was a bigger problem on the day. He said that Mushfiqur himself getting run out after a mix-up with Shakib, after they had added exactly 50 runs for the third wicket, was also a crucial point in the game.

"If you don't score big, you have to take all those chances. It happens in cricket. No one wants to make mistakes. I think the bigger mistakes was when we batted. If we managed to score 30 more runs, it could have been a different game.

"That run out [of Mushfiqur while batting] was the turning point. They both got set in that moment. Again, Shakib and Mithun had their partnership broken when they were putting it together. If any of those two partnerships had gone into eighties or a hundred, things would have been different," he said.