We need to keep pressure on the Aussies: Shakib Al Hasan

Team Bangladesh looked in some sort of command of the proceedings on the first day’s play of the first Test against Australia. Barring the first hour of the game, when Pat Cummins jolted the hosts with his inroads, it was team Bangladesh that dictated terms. A marathon stand between Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal helped the hosts gain momentum in the proceedings.

They eventually posted 260 in their first innings, riding on fifties from Shakib and Tamim. Some vicious spin bowling saw the visitors finish the day with 18/3 to the scoreline. As per the quotes in Cricbuzz, Shakib Al Hasan believes that they are slightly ahead in the game at the moment. However, they cannot be complacent and need to continue putting the pressure on the opposition.

“We are slightly ahead. They have just got seven wickets and we need to keep the pressure on them,” noted Shakib Al Hasan.

“It was an exciting little period when we came into bowl as we had just nine overs and were looking forward to get a couple of wickets. It is unlikely that the Test would last for five days but you never know because the pitch might start behaving well from tomorrow. They will be under pressure as their record in the subcontinent is not that good and all the players are playing their first Test in this country so naturally everything will be new for them,” Shakib added.

Pleased with the efforts

Shakib exclaimed that he is happy with the way the players fared up on the first day. He remarked that the ball was turning a little. Speaking about the marathon partnership he shared with Tamim that helped Bangladesh dictate terms on day one, he said that they were satisfied with their efforts.

“Naturally I am happy with our achievement. We were in trouble at that point and needed a partnership. I think the ball was turning so we were pretty satisfied to put over 250 runs. We did not talk much at the crease. We just concentrated to keep batting and we only started to bat well after the first session. Unfortunately two balls popped up and we lost our wickets,” conceded the senior player.

He further expressed his happiness over the partnership he shared with senior teammate Tamim Iqbal. Both veteran batsmen showed some serious class and temperament to bail out Bangladesh from a troubled score of 10/3. He said that they had no problems when it came to communication at the crease.

“I think it was easy for us [ to build the partnership] as we have been playing for a long time. It is not that we have any problem with regards to communication between us. Both of us have played 50 Test matches so there should not be any kind of problem as far as understanding is concerned,” mentioned Shakib Al Hasan.

On reckless use of reviews

While the hosts ticked off most of their checkboxes correctly on the day, they failed to get their reviews right. Shakib Al Hasan believes that they should have been more careful in using the reviews. Had the reviews been used wisely, someone like Mehedi Hasan could have got another go at the crease as the replays had suggested that he was not out.

“Surely we should be more smart while calling reviews. Miraj was not out and could have been saved if there was a review and that could have turn out to be vital as he was having a partnership with Nasir[ Hossain],” he conceded.