Sports Desk:

Bangladesh Test side began their preparations for the upcoming series against India in Mirpur and pacer Shoriful Islam felt that it would be a steeper challenge than what they faced in their recent Pakistan tour.

However, Shoriful was optimistic that the Tigers would be able to use their confidence from winning the Pakistan series to take on the India challenge.

Bangladesh created history by whitewashing Pakistan in their recent two-match Test series — the Tigers’ first-ever series win in the longer format over Pakistan.

“We will try to start [against India] with a win and as we are fresh off a good series [against Pakistan], everyone is confident. So, we will try to use that,” Shoriful said in a video released by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).

“They [India] are more experienced as a team compared to Pakistan and they are a big team. If we do well against a big side, worldwide we will be followed more and our games will be watched,” Shoriful added.

Pacers played a pivotal role in beating Pakistan, and Shoriful, who missed the second Test due to injury, talked about the competition among the pacers in the Bangladesh side.

“There was a time that pacers were not playing much. But now pacers are playing and those outside the team always stay ready.

“If someone is injured and misses one or two matches, someone else steps up and plays. It doesn’t appear that there is a deficiency or someone missed a game.

“After I got injured, Taskin [Ahmed] bhai did very well and it felt really good because when everyone is doing well, it’s even great to watch. We have many bowlers who are coming up to the national team or will come up one day. Pace bowling is a big challenge now and everyone has to fight for places to come in. It’s great for Bangladesh,” Shoriful added.

From Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan to Liton Das, everyone played a role in Bangladesh’s Test series triumph in Pakistan. Shoriful believes that the greater experience in the Tigers’ ranks instilled a belief in them against Shan Masood and Co.

“When we went to Lahore, all our batters and pacer bowlers were discussing that we have been playing Pakistan in Tests for a while and although we are playing away from home, we had better chances of winning. It’s because of the experience in our ranks compared to them. Look at the number of matches they played and how many we played and Shakib bhai was always reminding us of that.”

Bangladesh face India in the first of the two-Test series on September 19 in Chennai.