Ace all-rounder Sakib al Hasan said on Sunday that Bangladesh are on the right track as far as playing Test cricket is concerned despite them not coming close to their one-day international success in this format. The Tigers have shown tremendous progress in ODIs over the last few months moving to seventh in the ranking following their maiden series wins over Pakistan, India and South Africa.
However, the Tigers could not replicate the performance in Tests despite them remaining unbeaten in four of the five Tests they played so far in this year.
Rain played a big part in determining the result of their Test matches this year, with more than nine sessions lost in one-off Test against India and six days of play washed out in the two-match Test series against South Africa.
Sakib felt that their strength in the longer-version cricket could not be assessed fully as the rain prevented them from getting full five days in most of the Test matches.
‘I think we are on the right track,’ Sakib told reporters at a programme on Sunday. ‘You have rightly pointed out that our improvement was reflected in our ODI performance, not in Tests. But I think we could have shown it in Tests too if there was no rain.
‘Actually we feel we are improving in Tests. But we did not get a chance to show it as we could hardly have five days.’
Sakib will leave for USA on Sunday night and is expected to return on August 26 to join the training for the upcoming home series against Australia.
Bangladesh will return to training on August 22 but Sakib was granted a leave for the first few days.
Sakib hoped Bangladesh will start afresh in the Australia series, which will mark the beginning of their new season.
‘We have just ended a good season. Australia series will be a new season for us and we have to start everything anew,’ he said.
Sakib added that he is not bothered about the recent Australian slide as they surrendered the Ashes urn to arch-rivals England. The Aussies will have a new captain in Bangladesh tour after Michael Clarke decided to retire at the end of ongoing Ashes.
‘We are not thinking about it [Aussie humiliation in England] at the moment. Usually we only focus on our game instead of thinking of opponents’ strength and weaknesses,’ he said.
-With New Age input
