Salahuddin sees potential in response, positive team mood

Senior assistant coach Mohammad Salahuddin believes Bangladesh's dressing room has found renewed positivity yesterday, after three of their underperforming batters came good in the first innings of the opening Test against Sri Lanka in Galle.

Mushfiqur Rahim (163), Najmul Hossain Shanto (148) and Litton Das (90) all returned to form, helping Bangladesh post a strong total of 484 for nine at stumps on day two.

Shanto and Mushfiqur ended century droughts after 20 and 13 innings, respectively, while Litton had gone 10 innings without even a fifty before his fluent 90 off 123 balls.

"Mushfiqur made a strong comeback, showed a lot of character and so did Shanto," Salahuddin told reporters after the end of the second day's play.

"They were under pressure for several reasons. Litton also scored runs after a long time. That's a positive sign in our dressing room that those guys under pressure came forward and scored big," he added.

Bangladesh were cruising at 423 for four before persistent rain halted play for over two and a half hours. On resumption, momentum shifted. The visitors failed to rediscover their rhythm and lost five wickets for just 26 runs, allowing the home side to sneak back into the contest.

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'Flattest wickets we have seen in Galle'

Salahuddin observed "the last session could have been better" but believes replicating Sri Lanka's bowling effort could tilt the game in their favour.

"I want to take positives from their bowling. The way they bowled in the final session, we didn't see that in the first five sessions."

Salahuddin refused to blame the rain break for the collapse, pointing instead to poor shot selection.

"We have nothing to do with the rain. We played some bad shots and that's why we lost the wickets," he concluded.