Bangladesh are all set to take on India in the first match of the two-match Test series on Thursday in Chennai. On the day before the match, the Bangladesh captain said the Tigers are determined to do well, and they are focussing more on their own game instead of thinking much about the opponent.
In their last away series, Bangladesh beat Pakistan on their soil, recording their first-ever Test and Test series win over Pakistan. That win surely boosted the confidence of the Bangladesh team, who are now ready to challenge India.
But Bangladesh captain, Najmul Hossain Shanto, tried to make sure that they were not in the past, but are focused on another new series that requires them to play their best cricket.
“We played very good cricket against Pakistan,” Shanto said in a pre-match press conference. “This is a new series. The dressing room believes we can play very good cricket here too. We are not thinking about the outcome. We want to follow the process.”
Shanto also said they are not looking at the result even before starting the match. He said they will only think about the result in the last session of the match.
Bangladesh played 13 Tests against India before this series and failed to win any of those matches. Ahead of another series, the Bangladesh captain acknowledged that India is one of the toughest opponents in cricket.
He also added that the Bangladesh team is more focused on their own game.
“It is more important to think about ourselves than to worry too much about the opponent. I believe our team has the ability to play good cricket here. It's a five-day match, and we are focused on how to play good cricket in those five days,” he said.
But Shanto did not forget that they aim to win in India. He said winning is the first and final goal of every team in international cricket. But the Bangladesh team does not think much about the result even before the match takes place.
Bangladesh got their Test status in 2000. Their first Test was against India at home. In the last 24 years, Bangladesh has faced India in only 13 Tests. Shanto said Bangladesh will get more matches against big teams like India only if they perform well.
“If we do well in this kind of series, every team might want to play more and more matches with us. This is a great opportunity to show how well we can play cricket here. Hopefully, the way Bangladesh team is playing Test cricket now, I think all teams will be interested in playing with us,” the Bangladesh captain added.
The conditions in India are much like those in Bangladesh, which makes it easy for Bangladesh to adapt to the conditions in this series. Shanto said they are not worried about the condition that they would get in the match.
Bangladesh will keep an eye on their veteran performers Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, and Taijul Islam in this series, along with Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz. All of them played well in the Pakistan series and led the team to a historic victory.
The first Test of the India series will be played in Chennai from September 19, and the second Test will begin on September 27th in Kanpur.
Bangladesh squad for India Tests: Najmul Hossain Shanto (captain), Shadman Islam, Zakir Hasan, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Litton Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Jaker Ali, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Nahid Rana, Taijul Islam, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Nayeem Hasan, and Khaled Ahmed.
