Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said on Tuesday he was thinking only about the first Test against West Indies, as the pitch for Wednesday's match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium remained covered in grass.
Bangladesh go into the two-match series having won seven of their 13 Tests since December 2024, with two draws and four defeats. The run includes a win over Australia in Darwin in August and a home whitewash of Pakistan in May.
Questions at the pre-series press conference in Mirpur kept returning to the World Test Championship final, but Shanto said he had not looked that far ahead.
“Honestly, I haven't thought about it at all,” he said. “I'm only thinking about this Test. Even the second Test of this series isn't on my mind.”
The second Test starts in Sylhet on November 5. The day after the series ends, the squad flies to South Africa for two Tests starting on November 15. Bangladesh's last series of the championship cycle is against England in February.
“As a team, we always think about how we will play this match or this series,” Shanto said. “If we can win these matches or series, our goals are met on their own. So we always think in small targets. That is how we have moved forward over the last few years.”
He would not be drawn on the pitch, saying with a laugh that he did not want the West Indians to hear his answer.
West Indies captain Roston Chase expects the surface to change by the morning.
“I saw the wicket yesterday, but I don't think it will be the same tomorrow,” Chase said. “Probably some more grass will be cut, or some more work will be done on it.”
He said the pitch still looked dry underneath. “When there's grass, you'd naturally think it will help the pacers more. But this is Bangladesh, who are known mainly for spin. So we expect spin to be there too.”
Chase said the conditions would be the same for both sides.
“Both teams have to play on it. There will be four innings, so whoever adapts best to the pitch and the conditions will win in the end,” he said.
West Indies arrived in Dhaka about a week ago and played a two-day warm-up match. Bangladesh trained together as a team for the first time on Monday, as most of the players had been at the tri-nation series in the UAE.
Shanto said he was happy with the preparation.
“In terms of preparation, we are in a good position. In the time we had, everyone was able to prepare in the areas they needed to. We are not thinking too much about how the opposition prepared,” Shanto said.
He said public interest in Test cricket was a big motivation for the team, but the players were not satisfied.
“We will try to improve another 20 to 30 percent from where we are now,” he said.
Bangladesh had an injury scare on Tuesday when Mushfiqur Rahim was hit on the right index finger by a bouncer from a net bowler at practice. The extent of the injury was not immediately known.