By Qaiser Mohammad Ali
IANS
Chittagong : Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar said Tuesday that an early declaration by India would have made the first Test more interesting, but felt that the draw has given his team a psychological advantage for the second match.
"We thought that India would declare (early Tuesday morning). The game was dead… the only way to bring back some life into the match was an early declaration," Bashar told reporters after the rain-soaked match.
"If I was in place of Rahul (Dravid) I may have declared too," he said after the five-day match in which well over two days of play was lost to rains.
Bangladesh were given a target of scoring 250 in 43 overs at a rate of 5.81 runs per over Tuesday.
"(It is) not easy to chase 250 runs in the second innings of a Test match. The idea was not to lose too many early wickets. At one point, we thought we had a chance, with Javed (Omar). If we kept the wickets we could have (chased)," Bashar admitted.
"We have a little psychological advantage," he said, looking ahead to the second Test starting in Dhaka Friday.
"After being eight down for something we reached 238. Then we bowled well."
Bashar admitted it was difficult for his players to adapt to Test cricket after a year. Bangladesh were playing their first five-day match since April last year.
"It was a little difficult to adjust and contain them in the fist innings. But I feel good that I made some meaningful contribution," he said of 37-run knock in the second innings.
"We didn't play very badly. We didn't let them dominate totally. In the second innings we batted well, and the bowlers took some good wickets."
Among the bowlers, pace spearhead Mashrafe Mortaza was the top performer, and he contributed handsomely with the bat too.
Bangladesh coach Dave Whatmore also lauded Mortaza's contribution.
"He is a talented boy, just beginning to understand what he is capable of. He will get better. He will become a very good player if he keeps the injuries away," said the Sri Lankan-born former Australia Test player.
Whatmore said that he was "very satisfied" with the outcome of the match.
"The only exiting part of the whole game was the way we fought back after being down 148/8 (in the first innings). It was great to see the two bowlers bring life back into the match," he said of the knocks by Mortaza and Shahadat Hossain.
Mortaza scored 79 and Hossain 31 and together they raised 77 crucial runs for the ninth wicket that was instrumental in avoiding the follow-on. Mortaza was adjudged Man of the Match.