Ashrafful urges his fellow batsmen to play session by session

Dhaka, May 26 (UNI) Refusing to admit the match was over, vice-captain Mohammed Ashrafful said they now need to ressurect their innings by taking a session at a time, though they have applied themselves poorly at the beginning of the innings.

''We need to bat from session to session. And play well in the second innings too,'' Ashrafful said after the match.

India declared their first innings at 610 for three and then put the hosts on the mat at 58 for five.

Talking to the reporters here, Ashrafful said, ''I wont say it is one of the worst days. These things can happen in Test cricket.

They adjusted very well to the conditions.'' ''There will be some effect on the players, but we are professionals and these things should not affect us for long. They also bolwed well and the new ball was used very well,'' he said.

However, he admitted that Bangladeshi top order batted poorly with lack of application.

''We batted poorly and our appplication was weak. We were poor in defence.'' Asked if it was too late to save the match, Bagladeshi vice-captain said, ''Its tough, but we will try. It is test cricket after all.'' On whether it was a bad decision to field first, he replied negative, saying, ''No we saw Indian team also took five bowlers.

We thought the moisture would remain on the wicket and we could use it. So we took that decision. They batted really well.'' However, Ashrafful was dissapointed about the way his side has played so far in this match, considering the fact that it was their last match under coach Dav Whatmore, but was hopeful of putting things together in the second innings.

''We will try our best to redeem ourselves and play better in the second innings. Hopefully, we can do something.'' UNI