"There's no point in thinking too much about the wicket. It could aid the pacers but still be good for batting. Spinners may come into play as the match progresses."

— Mominul Haque, Bangladesh Test captain

Bangladesh will be looking to continue their upward trend in Tests away from home after the Mount Maunganui triumph earlier this year against New Zealand, with a confident Mominul Haque and Co. unsurprisingly eyeing a maiden Test win against South Africa in their den.

The first of the two-match Test series, starting in Durban from today, is expected to test Bangladesh's ability to continue to follow the right process, especially given the backdrop of an ODI series win against the Proteas.

More importantly, valuable points in the ICC World Test Championship will also be up for grabs.

"We will play to win this series but to do that it's important to follow the process. If we can dominate and play well over five days, the result will definitely come our way. When you come to play a full series and win the first series as we did in the ODI series, confidence levels increase," Mominul told the media during the pre-match press conference yesterday.

"However, there are differences in the red and white-ball formats and we have to start fresh. We need to put forward what process we followed in New Zealand and we need to work on the mistakes from that series. Overall we are confident, but we need to start from scratch."

Once again, Bangladesh's rising pace-bowling department is expected to play a major role in the upcoming Test series, especially on a seam-friendly Durban track. The forecast also suggests rain for the first four days, which will surely provide extra assistance.

Taskin Ahmed has been in terrific touch, getting player of the series in the ODI series, while the hero of the Mount Maunganui Test victory, Ebadot Hossain, and left-arm seamer Shoriful Islam are expected to play vital roles.

"It is important for fast bowlers to perform if a team wants to win Test matches abroad. If they can give early breakthroughs and bowl in the right areas, it becomes easy. A few of our pacers have played in the ODI series and had a good rest. I think our pacers are in a relaxed mood," Mominul added.

However, a lot will depend on how the Bangladeshi batters deal with a rather inexperienced South African bowling line-up that will be without premier fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje and Marco Jansen.

"We have worked on the short-ball strategy. When nothing happens, opponents tend to come out hard with the short-ball strategy. But that doesn't last for more than ten overs so it's important how we handle that pressure," he said.

The Tigers will miss star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan after he opted to skip the Test series for personal reasons but the return of experienced opener Tamim Iqbal will surely provide stability at the top alongside youngster Mahmudul Hasan Joy.