Have work to do: Taijul

Despite the auspicious nature of Bangladesh's upcoming first Test match in India, much of the fear of playing the top-ranked team revolved around the suffering the home batsmen can inflict upon the bowlers of the youngest Test nation.

Considerable fuel was poured on that particular fire when, in the two-day warm-up match that ended in a draw yesterday, India A hammered the Bangladesh bowlers for 461 runs in just 90 overs -- a run-rate of over five an over.

Bangladesh's bowlers managed just six wickets, shared evenly by pacer Subhashis Roy and left-arm spinner Taijul Islam. It would be tempting to predict an even worse outcome in the Test beginning on February 9, but Taijul did not seem too worried after the match yesterday.

“Of course it will be an extra challenge and they [India] always play well in their conditions,” he said when asked about whether the warm-up made the real thing more challenging. “The aim was to come here and acclimatise to the weather and play a practice match to see how the wickets are, and what kind of shots the Indian batsmen play on these wickets. Whether it is batting or bowling, we will look to adopt what we have done well and use that in the Test.” 

The aggression of the batsmen -- with three India A players making quickfire centuries -- was a cause for worry, but Taijul was eager to emphasise on the context of a practice game.

“That is why we played the practice match. We now have to work on those very things, and work out what we have to do. India have batsmen who are even better, so they may be even more attacking. We have two days before the match and we will work on these things and how we bowl to their batsmen.”