Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim, top scorer with 68 not out on day one of the first Test against the West Indies, drives the ball to the fence at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong on Friday. — AFP photo Azad Majumder . Chittagong
Anything close to 350 runs would be a good total for Bangladesh in the first innings of the first Test against West Indies, batsman Tamim Iqbal told reporters on Friday.
Bangladesh ended the first day with six wickets intact and already 255 runs on the board, which gave the Tigers a great hope for putting West Indies under pressure in the game.
‘It’s obviously a good achievement for us to bat out the day,’ Tamim told a post-match press conference. ‘At the moment it’s tough to say how far we can go because it is not a very easy wicket to bat on.
‘You really need to work hard here to get runs. Our target will be to bat as much possible. I think anything like 320 to 350 would be a good total on this wicket.
‘The ball was not coming nicely onto the bat. It was really difficult to hit the ball away from the body. We had to wait for the ball to come to a certain length before hitting,’ he said.
‘It was also difficult to get out on this wicket because there was not enough movement or an extra bounce. We just need to do some works for runs,’ said Tamim, who made 52 from 141 balls.
‘We really batted well today. We would have been easily all out on any other day on this wicket against this type of attack,’ said Tamim.
Bangladesh have still some batting in their line-up with skipper Mushfiqur Rahim still at the crease with 68 not out while Naeem Islam and Shahriar Nafees
are yet to complete their innings.
The Tigers also can expect some runs from two debutants, Nasir Hossain and Elias Sunny, which is giving them a greater hope to think beyond their initial target.
‘I think it is easily possible to get 425 to 450
runs here,’ said former skipper Gazi Ashraf Hossain. ‘For us now the first 10 overs on the second day will be key. As a spectator I will remain tensed during the period.’
If Bangladesh can score something close to 450 runs it will also raise their chance to win the game, said Gamini de Silva, the chief curator of the Bangladesh Cricket Board.
‘I have got some idea about what kind of wicket would suit the Bangladesh team. I am happy to see them making a good use of it on the first day,’ he told reporters.
‘If they can score 450 runs the game will be in their pocket,’ said the Sri Lankan.
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