‘Job is only half-done’: Shanto not bothered by outside noise

Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said his team are enjoying the victory, but knows that there would be criticism of his side if they do poorly in the next match.

The 25-year-old, led Bangladesh to a first-ever home Test win against New Zealand in Sylhet on Saturday in what was his first assignment as the skipper in the red-ball format, said his and his team's focus is on 'maintaining the process and giving full commitment on the field

"Overall we played a very good match. I'm very happy to have won the first Test match as a captain," Shanto told reporters at the post-match press conference in Sylhet.

"We had the belief that we could win this match. I said that before the Test because I believed we could win. I think the belief was within everyone.

"The job is only half-done. Another match is left and it's not as if we will go there and win it too. We'll have to work for five more days for that victory."

Shanto has had opportunities in the past to captain in shorter formats but this was his first assignment in a Test match where his team were thought of as underdogs due to the absence of important players such as Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Taskin Ahmed and Ebadot Hossain.

But Bangladesh dominated the former World Test Championship winners from in all departments and eventually won the match by 150 runs. Shanto feels there will be more expectation the next time around, especially as they travel to Dhaka for the second Test starting from December 6.

"I'm not too concerned about winning or losing. I feel if the process is maintained and if the commitment is there from the players, I'm fine. If those things are there, results will likely come out positive.

"There will be outside talk. Now [that we won], there will be a lot of good words said about us and then there will be criticism if we do poorly in another match. That is not in our control and we don't think about that either," said Shanto, who apart from showing excellent captaincy skills, scored a fine century in the second innings of the match.