Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto stressed upon the requirements of sticking to the process to stop Indian juggernaut in the two-match series opening Test, starting on Thursday at M Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, reports BSS.
India have been invincible at home, not losing any Test series for more than 4000 days. They in fact won successive 17 Test series at home in the last 12 years. In this period, they lost only four Test matches.
Bangladesh also have never beaten India in Test format, losing 11 of 13 and drawing two Tests, largely due to the blessings of inclement weather.
But this time, they are high on confidence, which stemmed from their historic series victory against Pakistan. According to Shanto, they need to follow the same process, which won them the series against Pakistan a couple of weeks ago.
"We played very good cricket against Pakistan. The series victory is a morale booster and gave us the necessary confidence to outclass India," Shanto told the reporters in Chennai on Wednesday.
"But this is a new series. Players in the dressing room believe that we are able to play very good cricket here as well. We are not thinking about results. We want to follow the process."
Bangladesh's morale was lifted basically due to their ability to hit back from the dire strait in Pakistan series. In both Tests, Bangladesh were on the receiving end but they fought like a wounded Tigers to snatch the victory from the jaws of defeat.
What was more morale boosting was their comeback from the precarious 26-6 in the first innings of the second Test. A scintillating century of Liton Das coupled with Mehidy Hasan Miraz's steely resolve helped Tigers bail out of the danger and eventually won the game.
But given India's strength, such a comeback from trick situation may not be possible. Shanto admitted India as stronger opponent than Pakistan but confident of putting up a tough fight.
"We all know how strong the Indian side is. But it is more important to think about yourself than about your opponent. I believe our team has the potential to play good cricket here. It's five-day cricket, so the target is to take the game to the fifth day and if we can do so, there is opportunity for us to beat India," he added.
"The goal is same: we want to win every match. All international teams have this goal. We have the same goal. We will do whatever it takes to win."
Bangladesh have played three Tests on Indian soil so far and lost all badly.
Shanto said they need to win on overseas condition to force the strong nations to play more Test matches with them.
"We won the series against Pakistan. We need to win Test series regularly on overseas ground. Only then the strong International team will want to play against us. It is a great opportunity to see how well we can play cricket here in India. Hopefully, the way the Bangladesh team is playing Test cricket now, I think all teams will be interested to play with us."
India is in second spot in the ICC Test rankings. When asked what kind of challenges he expects against India in India's condition, Shanto said: "We are not thinking about the condition and opponent. We are only thinking about ourselves. The match will go in our favour if we can stick to our plan."
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
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