‘We will build the team to do well like in ODIs’

The way Bangladesh's bowlers thwarted England from getting a big score was commendable, but how did the Tigers' chase go? It was a complete chase, done with a coolness that displayed the exuberance of youth, with left-handed Najmul Hossain Shanto leading from the front.

How well the chase played out could be surmised from Shanto's confident remarks at the press conference after beating world champions England in the first of the three-match T20I series in Chattogram yesterday.

"They are one of the best teams in the world, so the win will give us a lot of confidence. We will slowly build the team, so we can do well just as the ODI team," Shanto said, with the intent in his voice suggesting the confidence that he showed when he played some smashing shots against some of the best in the business during a 30-ball 51.

The ODI team has been successful in recent years but the T20 team has struggled for a long time. A new-look team had gone to the World Cup in Australia last year but there was far more newness to the team in this series, Bangladesh's first T20I assignment since the World Cup.

Shanto himself had been at that World Cup, ending as Bangladesh's highest run-getter. However, there was plenty of criticism as well. He had said that there was a role he needed to carry out for the national side back then, but after the BPL, where he ended as the top-scorer, he was told to carry on with the approach he showed in the domestic T20 competition.

"I wasn't given a specific plan. We just tried to continue with the momentum from the openers. We stuck to a normal plan. We tried to apply the way we batted in the BPL," he said.

He found runs in the England ODIs and the BPL performances allowed him to find a better tempo. "I have been scoring regularly, which allows extra confidence. Game awareness gets better. I had a better understanding of building my innings," he said about being among runs.

Before the chase, the team talk had been to play normally, which sounds simple but fits well with Shanto's game, anchoring and accelerating as needed. "They were telling me to bat in similar fashion [to the BPL]," he informed about the instructions.

But it was not just Shanto. Towhid Hridoy made his international debut while Rony Talukdar, who came out to open, returned after eight years after playing a lone T20I. Integration should not have been easy, but Shanto said it was.

"I think the team environment is great. We played together in the BPL, so they didn't take time to gel. The good thing about our dressing room is that a new player never feels like he is new."

The new faces and the returnees added electricity on the field. Put on the spot about whether they would win the series, Shanto made the following statement: "We should win the series from this position. We have to play well on that particular day."

SCORES IN BRIEF

England: 
156 for six in 20 overs (Buttler 67, Salt 38, Duckett 20; Hasan Mahmud 2-26, Shakib 1-26, Nasum 1-31) 
Bangladesh: 
158 for four in 18 overs (Shanto 51, Shakib 34*, Rony 21, Hridoy 24; Moeen 1-27, Rashid 1-25) 
Result: 
Bangladesh won by six wickets 
Player-of-the-match: 
Najmul Hossain Shanto