Bangladesh confident but cautious ahead of India challenge

Sports Desk: Bangladesh cricket team departs for India on Sunday to play a two-match Test and three-match T20I series. Before boarding a flight to India, Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto talked to the media at the airport and said the team effort would be the key for them in the tour.

It’s Bangladesh’s first series after their historic Test series win in Pakistan.

Bangladesh played 13 Tests before against India but failed to win any of those matches. Two of those matches ended in a draw, with India winning the other 11 matches.

Bangladesh aims to surprise India in this series, but as the captain said, a team effort is needed.

“It’s not just the spinners who have responsibility. The difference can only be made when we play as a team,” Shanto said. “Batters and pace bowlers also have equal responsibility. Playing as a whole team is important, if we can play as a team, we will play good cricket.”

Bangladesh beat Pakistan in both the matches in Rawalpindi, which surely boosted the confidence of the team. But replicating the same success in India will require team effort and caution.

“This is going to be a challenging series,” the Bangladesh captain added. “We will play to win both the matches. But first we have to make sure that we do our job properly.”

Bangladesh have a great spin attack that includes players like Shakib Al Hasan, Taijul Islam and Mehidy Hasan Miraz. At the same time, the Tigers have a good pace attack.

But what they lack is experience, as Shanto said. India have great history in the Tests in recent years. They have players with proven record against any kind of bowling attack and on any surface around the world.

“The most important thing for us is how we can play good cricket for five days, the result comes in the last session,” Shanto said, making sure that they would focus more on their own setup.