'We'll approach the second Test like the first'

Bangladesh will go into their second and final Test against New Zealand at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Friday and ahead of the last game of the tour, coach Chandika Hathurusingha said his team was ready to show the mental toughness to come back from that disappointing defeat in the opening Test at Wellington. 

Asked if it is possible for his team to come back the way they did at home against England, the coach said: “That gives us hope. It's not impossible to come back. Whether we can do it, time will tell, but all the effort and all the planning is there to do that.” 

He also said that they can still take a lot of positives from the first Test that his side relinquished after dominating for almost four days at the Basin Reserve earlier this week.

“We can take a lot of positives out of the last game. We were ahead of the game into the fourth day until one and a half hours before the close. We will approach the second Test the way we approached the first Test. 

“I think as a batting group we really batted well in the first innings. We will do the same things that we have done in our first innings if we are batting first and will expect to finish the game better than the last game,” said the Sri Lankan, adding that they were expecting a similarly bouncy pitch in Christchurch and they are prepared for that. 

“If you see the way we batted in the first innings we were prepared for that. And credit to this team, we showed that we can bat on a turning wicket at home against England and we also showed that we can compete in conditions like these. It is a big ask for any team to do that kind of thing. For me it has nothing to do with skills and nothing to do with the condition,” he went on.

He was also impressed with his rookie pace attack, which he termed as 'green'. 

“I can't speak for a long period of time. But what we had in the last game was that it was a very green pace attack -- the combined Test experience of the three was two [Tests]. We have one [Taskin Ahmed] who has not played first-class for three years. I think they really bowled well in the first innings -- they bowled 140 odd overs. They created chances and the captain acknowledged that as well. So, what happened in the second innings was nothing to do with them. The match was lost because of batting,” Hathurusingha said while appreciating the effort of his inexperienced pace attack.

He said that different conditions cannot be an excuse for any team coming from the subcontinent because it is always the other way around when other teams travel to the subcontinent. 

“Definitely it will be felt, it is cold. It will [have an] effect. I mean, when the other teams that do not like the subcontinent come to the subcontinent they feel the heat and when a subcontinent team comes here they feel the heat, like some of you guys who are covering their heads when the temperature is 26,” he said with a smile on his face. 

When asked if so many injuries in the team had anything to do with the stress factor of a long tour, Hathurusingha ruled it out.

“It's a concern but those are accidental injuries. It's not overworking or stress injuries and part and parcel of playing international cricket for a long time,” he said, adding that he was enjoying all the bouncy stuff.

“There is nothing excessive for me; I think we also did the same thing and we also bowled aggressively. That's Test cricket, proper Test cricket. I liked the contest and we need to stand up. We were beaten by the better side.”