Mashrafe expressed his disappointment with Bangladesh's fielding throughout the tournament and added that their bowling was pretty ordinary too. © AFP

Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza said that Bangladesh are sorry for not being able to assist Shakib Al Hasan at the World Cup after his side crashed to a 94-run defeat to Pakistan. While Shakib remained an outstanding performer for Bangladesh in the ongoing edition that saw him reach several individual milestones, he hardly got any support from his teammates as Bangladesh ended their journey with just three wins in the tournament.

Even against Pakistan in their last game of the World Cup at Lord's, Shakib showed his consistency with another half-century - his seventh fifty-plus knock in eight games.

Mashrafe, who was playing his last World Cup match said that he didn't have any regrets for himself, but that Bangladesh should have complemented Shakib better, who was outstanding throughout the tournament, finishing with 606 runs and picking up 11 wickets.

"I have no regrets [for me]," said Mashrafee after the match on Friday (July 5). "At this moment, I am feeling sad for Shakib really. The way he played I think our team deserves to go a little bit further if I say more clearly in the semifinal. When a player of a team performs like this, normally that team should play in the semifinal. Unfortunately, that didn't happen somehow. Maybe we didn't click at some crucial points in this tournament."

Mashrafe also expressed his disappointment with Bangladesh's fielding throughout the tournament and added that their bowling was pretty ordinary too. So much so that their batsmen's valiant effort hardly managed to mask the weaknesses of the bowling unit. Bangladesh's fielding was a major area of concern as they had failed to grab their chances. Right from missing the run-out of Kane Williamson, to dropping Jason Roy, Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam against New Zealand, England, India and Pakistan respectively, they paid dearly for those missed chances. And their ground fielding always allowed the opponents to add 20 -30 runs to their total.

"We missed some catches when we needed to take them, we bowled badly when we needed to bowl well, we didn't step up in these areas," said Mortaza. "Obviously, little things make a huge difference, that's for sure. And a few catches were dropped obviously.

"In the bowling, we couldn't pick up early wickets in the first 10-15 or 20 overs in most of the matches including me and others. I personally think I should think about this matter personally as I operate in this role. It's my responsibility," he said, after having returns of only the one wicket in the World Cup.

"Going forward, Bangladesh need to be concerned about...if you're asking this sort of tournament, like World Cup, Champions Trophy, or maybe T20 World Cup, that sort of tournament, obviously bowling is a big issue if we play in this part (of the world), because this part is always flat. But if we play in Asia, we will be a far better bowling side than what we are in here. So I think we need to find our best ways to bowl them out or maybe restrict them and tell them we can chase. Batting hasn't been an issue before the World Cup. What can I do? But I think boys are clear what they can do," he said.

An optimistic Mashrafe, however, concluded by saying that he believed Bangladesh will be among the favourites in the next edition of the World Cup.

"About the next World Cup, I wish Tamim, Shakib, Mushfiq, Riyadh [ [Mahmudullah] stay fit and healthy. I hope nothing happens to them. I hope they don't get injured and they stay with the team. The upcoming players and players in the team, I hope they go into the tournament in form. And because the next World Cup is in India, of course, I won't say anything about winning the World Cup. There is a matter of luck there. But in India, I think Bangladesh must be taken as favorites,".