A great occasion: Mushfiqur

Bangla­desh entertained India in their first-ever Test match in 2000 at Dhaka and, puzzlingly, it has taken them 17 years to finally make the dream travel across the border for a five-day game. Happy to lead the side in the historic game, Mushfiqur Rahim said his side is looking to make the most of the rare opportunity. “As a Test playing nation, you dream about playing against every other team. Playing against India is really a great occasion for us. The boys are really excited to play the No 1 team in the world and it's a great opportunity to show some character and skill. Hopefully, we can match the No 1 team over the next five days,” said Rahim at the pre-match press conference. “It’s very important that we play our best game. There is only one match and everything to learn for. Because a Test match against the No 1 team in the world is a great opportunity for our guys. Also there are a couple of guys coming to India for the first time. Although we played a couple of games in the World T20 here, a Test match is a completely different ball game. Hopefully we can learn from it and capitalise on the chances.” Bangladesh, extremely dangerous in limited overs cricket, could have achieved exceptional results in the longer format in last few months had they shown some patience and resolve. After mustering 595 runs against New Zealand in the first innings of the first Test at Wellington last month, they wilted in the second outing to lose a game they could have drawn at least. When asked if Bangladesh lack confidence in Tests, coach Chandika Hathurusingha begged to differ. “There is a problem but I don't think there's insecurity. Probably the concentration factor. We haven’t played much five-day cricket for a while now. More you play five-day cricket the more you can improve. For batsmen to concentrate for a long time and play under pressure, that's what we need to expose them. That's the only way we can get better,” said the Sri Lankan.