‘Drawing a Test match abroad is an excellent sign’
Despite the first Test between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka ending in a draw, the overall game offered huge relief to Mominul Haque and Co. because they showed signs of shedding their longest lean patch in the longest format of the overall game in recent memory.
Bangladesh were desperate to overcome recent Test debacles including a 2-0 defeat at the hands of a comparatively inexperienced West Indies at home.
Questions over their approach and strategy from the team management also remained the guts of discussion prior to the first Test.
The visitors eventually took those to the task after to arrive to bat on a green Pallekele pitch that primarily looked favorable for the seamers.
Young Najmul Hossain and skipper Mominul Haque both scored by centuries in the first innings while experienced opener Tamim Iqbal scored a brilliant ninety in the first innings as the Tigers posted a large total.
Mominul credited Tamim's knock in the first inning, saying the left-hander set the tone for the team. He also praised Najmul for his maiden ton and said that the draw would definitely boost confidence.
"We were not able to get results in both home and away series previously. After losing a home series, managing to draw a Test match abroad is a superb sign. It will surely boost our confidence for the next Test because everyone played as a unit. Whenever Bangladesh plays as a unit, we are in an excellent position," said Mominul.
The 29-yea-old registered his eleventh Test ton, the most by a Bangladeshi batsman, using what was his maiden hundred abroad. He opined that there were still many areas his side must focus on, especially in the batting department.
"We were confident of choosing five bowlers because you always need five bowlers when you play in Sri Lanka, keeping injury concerns in mind. If you want to move forward in Test cricket, you have to go with five bowlers and six batsman in the line-up sometimes. When you play with six batters, I believe everyone plays more responsibly. And if you wish to choose 20 wickets you will need five bowlers," he said.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka replied strongly, riding on skipper Dimuth Karunaratne's maiden double ton alongside Dhananjaya De Silva's century. The duo added an archive 345 runs -- the highest fourth-wicket are a symbol of Sri Lanka as the hosts took a first-innings lead.
Karunaratne, who literally spent the complete duration of the Test match on the field as he fielded before scoring 244 off 437 balls, conceded that he was tired but added that he'd bat till the end of the fifth day if the problem permitted.
"On this pitch, a fifty wasn't enough for me personally. I saw that everyone in the Bangladesh team got a fifty. I'm not the sort of player who's satisfied with just getting a fifty upon this kind of pitch. I needed to carefully turn my 50 right into a hundred and my hundred right into a one-fifty. And you very rarely get pitches such as this in Sri Lanka. You generally get tracks that turn a whole lot. And when you go overseas, you get a large amount of seaming conditions. I needed to have the maximum out of the pitch," Karunaratne said.
