Shanto on Bangladesh’s batting: We are working but not getting the desired results

After competing in phases through the first Test in Chennai, Bangladesh ultimately paid the price for their top-half collapsing in the first innings, according to captain Najmul Hossain Shanto. India beat the visitors by 280 runs with over five sessions to spare. Bangladesh were bowled out for 234 in their second innings, an improvement on their 149 all out in their first. They had slipped to 40 for 5 on the second afternoon, a phase of play that Shanto believes cost them the game.

“We didn’t bat well in the first innings”, Shanto said. “It was a very important phase of the game. We could have been in a better position if we had at least one [big] top-order partnership. There will always be a challenge for the top order to do well, especially in the first innings. It is important to see how we are coping with it. We are working towards it but we are not getting the desired results.”

The top order recovered slightly in the second attempt on the third day when openers Zakir Hasan and Shadman Islam added 62 runs, although in pursuit of a stiff 515.

“It is important to spend the time in the wicket but it wasn’t enough [today],” Shanto said. “Still, it will help for the second Test. It was very important for the openers to put on 62 runs. That’s one thing we can look forward to in the next Test match.”

Shanto scored his first Test fifty in 11 innings and finished with 82 which included eight fours and three sixes. While that will encourage the visitors, he believes he could have done much better.

“That’s usually how I bat in these type of conditions. I was clear with my plan. I think everyone has a different plan. I hope they (India) will plan differently in the next match,” he said.

Unlike his nervous start in the first innings, Shanto adjusted to the pace of the game quite well in the second. He attacked R Ashwin as the rough outside his off stump was relatively benign on the third afternoon. He quickly reached his half-century too, off 55 balls, while others like Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan struggled to tackle the Indian bowling.

Shanto’s scoring pattern in his Test career has been all or nothing. Out of his 57 innings, he has been dismissed 32 times between the scores of 0 and 19, and on 14 occasions in the twenties and thirties. He has also frequently converted fifties into centuries. Before this Test, every time crossed the seventies, he got to his century. His 82 in Chennai was the first time he got out in the eighties in a Test innings.

When Bangladesh resumed the fourth day on 158 for 4, Shanto found Mohammed Siraj tough to negotiate. He played out a couple of maiden overs, and only got Siraj away for a pulled four in the 46th over.

“The morning session was tough today. The way Siraj was bowling. They were all bowling really well. Shakib also batted well. We tried to contribute for the team. We tried to bat as long as we could. Today’s morning session was one positive thing. We didn’t bat well after that,” Shanto said.

When India captain Rohit Sharma brought on Ashwin, who had already taken three wickets on the third day, the stand between Shakib and Shanto was broken, which triggered the collapse of six wickets for 40 runs.

“I think it was quite challenging to bat today. They were bowling in the rough. I don’t want to use it as an excuse. These are challenges we have to take,” said Shanto, who was the eighth wicket to fall but by then the writing was on the wall.

Bangladesh’s openers had earlier bounced back with an encouraging effort on the third day. Similar to how they played in Rawalpindi in the second Test against Pakistan, both Zakir and Shadman offered a straighter bat to the ball, kept their cool in the initial exchanges and got off to a quick start. But just like it happened in Rawalpindi, both fell after building a solid platform.

While Shanto said that he wants the openers to play their “natural game”, batting coach David Hemp said on the third day that the openers are still in the phase of working on their starts at the crease.

“It goes without saying that you need to start well and once you have faced 20 or 30 balls, you get a bit of idea of what’s happening,” Hemp said. “You want to go on from that, especially when you scored 30 or 40 runs. You have done the hard work, so make sure you cash in. We did it in patches in Pakistan.

“We will keep working on it in practice. We have to get ourselves in first, as that’s something we haven’t done well enough. If you go back to March [against Sri Lanka], we were not doing well enough. So we are doing that better now. But once you get to 40-60 balls, ideally you bat 120 balls. When you do that, you will walk away with a reasonable reward.”

The openers’ mini-fightback and Shanto’s knock were the only two aspects of their batting that will give Bangladesh some confidence on their way to Kanpur. At the same time though, the top-half’s abject failure in the first innings will haunt them until they get it right. Several batters need to step up. Otherwise Bangladesh could be staring down the barrel again.