Bangladesh should not be content with just playing well but must rather try to win Test matches, opener Tamim Iqbal said on Wednesday ahead of the second Test against England in Dhaka.
The home side were highly praised for the thrilling contest in the first Test in Chittagong, which they lost by 22-run on Monday to go down 1-0 in two-Test series.
England had to wait until the morning of the fifth day for their victory when all-rounder Ben Stokes took two wickets in three balls in one over to seal the win in thrilling fashion.
Chasing a target of 286 runs on a difficult wicket, Bangladesh required 33 runs on the final day with two wickets in hand.
But they could just add 10 runs to their overnight 253-8 before Stokes’ two-wicket burst ended their innings at 263.
“From media to common people everybody praised us, said we have played well,” said opener Tamim, who made highest 78 runs for the side in the first innings.
“Now, if we remain content with this, I don’t think we will be able to make progress.
“At the end, we lost and we should have that disappointment in us and that will carry us forward.
“If we move forward thinking that our performance earned substantial amount of appreciation, it won’t be good.
“Certainly there were some positives as we had competed for five days but that was not enough.”
Tamim added Bangladesh must also look ahead rather than dwell on the last match.
“Five years from now, you will find in the scoreboard that we lost the game,” he said.
“There will be no mention that we played well. So, we should rather focus on the next game and try to win it,” he said.
Tamim, who averages 59.20 against England in Tests, said they will go to Friday’s second Test in Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium more confident as they were able to shrug off their shakiness for long gap in the first Test.
The England series is Bangladesh’s first Test series in nearly 15 months since they hosted South Africa in July-August last year.
Bangladesh barely showed any rust in the first Test, which they dominated in patches before England clawed their way back into the contest.
“I don’t think there will be any shakiness since we played such a competitive game,” said Tamim.
“Maybe if we could not play well after such a long gap it would have influenced our game. Now, we are better prepared and more confident,” he said. – AFP
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