Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto stated his squad is savouring the victory but is aware that if they perform poorly in the next match, he will face criticism.
The 25-year-old, who led Bangladesh to their first-ever home Test victory over New Zealand in Sylhet on Saturday in his first assignment as captain in the red-ball format, said his and his team’s priority is on “maintaining the process and giving full commitment on the pitch”.
“We played a very good match overall.” “I’m overjoyed to have won my first Test match as captain,” Shanto said at the post-match press conference in Sylhet.
“We were confident that we could win this match.” I said it before the Test because I was confident we could win. I believe the belief was shared by everyone.
“The job is just half finished. Another game remains, and it’s unlikely that we’ll win it as well. We’ll have to work for another five days to achieve victory.”
Shanto had previous opportunities to captain in shorter formats, but this was his first assignment as captain of a Test match in which his team was considered an underdog due to the absence of key players such as Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, and Ebadot Hossain.
However, Bangladesh crushed the former World Test Championship winners in every aspect, finally winning by 150 runs. Shanto believes there would be higher expectations the next time they play, especially because the second Test begins on December 6 in Dhaka.
“I’m not very bothered in winning or losing. I’m fine as long as the process is maintained and the players are committed. If those conditions are met, the results will almost certainly be favourable.
“There will be gossip from the outside. Now that we’ve won, there will be a lot of positive things said about us, followed by criticism if we do poorly in our next match. That is beyond our control, and we do not consider it,” added Shanto, who, in addition to his captaincy skills, scored a superb century in the match’s second innings.