Bangladesh aren’t going to pushovers. Coming from a historic Test series victory over Pakistan last a couple of weeks earlier, captain Najmul Hossain Shanto is giving his team a chance to not only win one but both games. The Tigers departed for India, to play 5 matches (2 Tests and 3 T20Is) earlier today and will land in Chennai soon.
Confidence from Pakistan victory
“This will be a challenging series for us, but after having a good series against Pakistan, there is an extra confidence in our team. Every series is an opportunity, and we will play to win both matches,” Shanto told reporters before leaving.
Ranked 9th in the ICC Test ranking, the Bangladesh captain admits that facing India in their own backyard would be challenging. They aim to play competitive cricket, and if they do that well, the result will be positive.
“If we can do our job properly, certainly a good result is possible, but still, it’s going to be very challenging. If you see the ranking, they are far ahead of us, but recently we played a good series, and the most important thing is that how we can play good cricket. The result happens in the last session of the five days, and so if we can play good cricket, we have a chance to do well in the last session. It is important what plans need to be executed to play well for five days and there will be a chance to win but let’s not think too far ahead and focus on our strength and how we can play good cricket,” he added.
Experience puts India ahead?
The Bangladeshi captain understands that despite having great spinners and pacers, they don’t have the experience that the Indian line-up has. Despite Shami not playing, there is no lack of experience with Bumrah and Siraj present. Shanto added that their spinners are great, but India has Jadeja and Ashwin, who without a doubt are better than Mehidy and Shakib.
“Our spin and pace is in a good frame. But still, if you compare the teams, I feel our pacers are relatively less experienced compared to them. Spin wise, we are close to them, but experience wise, I would keep them ahead, but our spinners can bowl in any condition, and I can say this much – that all the players, whether pacers, spinners or batters, whoever will play, every player will give a hundred percent. The difference can be made when we play as a team,” Shanto concluded.
