Tamim Iqbal made 78 and 9 in the first Test against England © Associated Press
Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal has said the team has to shake off any satisfaction of having been competitive in the Chittagong Test against England in order to focus on the second Test in Mirpur. The buzz from the 22-run defeat was still present, however, as the team trained on Wednesday.
“Everyone is saying that we played well but we have discussed as a team that we cannot be so happy with so little,” Tamim said. “We won’t be able to improve if we have that mentality. I know we were competitive but we should have won the game. We can take positives from the first Test, like we competed for five days. It would have been a different story had we won the game.
“I know our Test record isn’t great but we will try our best in every way to win the next game, which is a belief that is held by every cricketer who plays for Bangladesh. We will try to do our job properly from the first to last ball.”
The Chittagong Test was Bangladesh’s narrowest loss in terms of runs, the previous being the 77-run defeat to West Indies in 2012. Tamim, who made 78 in the first innings, said being competitive wasn’t enough anymore; Bangladesh have won only seven out of 94 Tests.
Tamim said the team was less focused on the toss, the pitch, or DRS ahead of the second Test, and more on improving the batting and bowling.
“I think the less I talk about the last game, the better,” he said. “It was a good Test match, but we lost in the end. Five years from now, it will read that we lost the game. We should stick to the processes and planning that we have. We are discussing more on what we can do with bat and ball, not on the wicket or the toss.
“It is not easy to return to cricket after 14 months but I think the players adapted very well. The batsmen moved from T20s to ODIs to Test cricket. We have a number of Tests in the next six months, so we want to use the rhythm from the Chittagong Test for the future.”
Tamim said Bangladesh should do better in favourable conditions and batsmen should look to score more runs after they were set. “The wicket in Chittagong was in our favour but we still lost the game. We have to reduce our mistakes and bowl according to the wicket.
“Batting wasn’t easy on that wicket but we had our moments. I think we should have stretched those moments a bit. If the wicket remains the same in Dhaka, the batsman should score 20-25 runs more after they are settled.”
The second Test against England begins in Mirpur on October 28.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo