Bangladesh look to level series
After losing out on a great opportunity to bag a Test win against West Indies, Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim hopes his team can bounce back to win the second and final Test.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: November 19, 2012 04:52 PM IST
Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim hopes his team can bounce back to win the second and final Test against the West Indies starting Wednesday after suffering a defeat with victory near in the first.
The home team had raised hopes of an upset win in Dhaka by setting up a modest victory target of 245 runs following a stunning bowling performance of 6-74 by debutant off-spinner Sohag Gazi.
But a customary second innings batting failure ended landed them a 77-run defeat, as West Indian paceman Tino Best generated some hostile pace to claim 5-24 and push the Tigers to their 64th defeat in 74 Tests.
Rahim said Bangladesh achieved some positives despite their defeat.
"Ahead of the Test match, our concerns were about lasting the five days," said Rahim, referring to concerns over Bangladesh's lack of preparation for their first Test in 11 months.
"But we scored 500-plus and took a first-innings lead, these are big achievements, all the players were committed and if we could have played a little better we could have possibly won it.
"We can improve ourselves by getting into such situations more."
Bangladesh will also hope their fortunes change on a new venue, the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in the industrial town of Khulna which will be hosting a Test for the first time.
West Indian captain Darren Sammy agreed Bangladesh will take some positives into the second match.
"I know Bangladesh will take a lot of positives and so will we. It leaves the series wide open. We have seen they are not a team we can roll over," said Sammy who also led his team to 1-0 Test win in Bangladesh last year.
"Before the series I had said that we won't take them lightly and we didn't. Had we taken them for granted the result of the first innings score would have caused panic in the dressing room."
Both teams are likely to remain unchanged as they seek continuity in selection and performance.