India is the toughest tour these days, probably unbeatable at home: Shakib Al Hasan

India have played 18 Test matches at home since COVID-19, winning 13 of them. They lost three, while two games finished on level terms. They have been nearly unbeatable at home and defeated the Test giants likes of Australia, England and New Zealand. Bangladesh veteran Shakib Al Hasan understands the difficulty of getting the job done against the Rohit Sharma-led side but is ready to put up a strong fight in the second Test at Kanpur.

Bangladesh lost the opening Test by 280 runs in Chennai. Post the debacle, the all-rounder stated that India are probably unbeatable at home and reminded that all the teams have faced difficulty in challenging them in red-ball cricket. He also compared the Indian team with Pakistan and noted that the Shan Masood-led side was relatively younger and inexperienced, which is why, they could get the job done.

“I think Pakistan is a relatively young and inexperienced team. If you look at the matches they've played and compare it to our team, we have more experience, and in Test cricket, that's a massive factor,” Shakib was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

“If I talk about India, they are the number one team at the moment and are probably unbeatable at home. They are doing well outside as well, but at home, they are unbeatable. Any country finds India difficult, and we are no different. Having said that, we have to play really well to show the fight we feel we can put up. I think India is the toughest tour these days. Other teams may lose one or two games, but we hardly see India losing Tests,” he added.

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Finishing the match in three and a half days isn't ideal for us: Shakib

Analyzing the first Test, Shakib stated that the batting order disappointed in the first innings but he was happy with how they stepped up in the second. The allrounder mentioned that finishing the Test match in three days wasn’t ideal from Bangladesh’s point of view and believes that they are better than that. He also expects the batting unit to show better performance in Kanpur.

“I think in patches we played really well in Chennai, but finishing the match in three and a half days isn't ideal for us. We felt like we are a better team than that. Tomorrow we have another opportunity, and we need to show our potential in tomorrow's match.

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“If I talk about batting only, there was improvement from the first innings to the second. In the first innings we were bowled out for 150, but in the second innings we scored around 250. In the next Test match, if we can score 350 or thereabouts, that will be a huge improvement. Scoring 350 to 400 in the first innings will give us a lot of confidence and boost our team,” Shakib concluded.