Bangladesh star all-rounder and skipper Shakib Al Hasan has hailed his side’s ‘special’ series clinching win over the West Indies in the second Test at Mirpur.
Off-spinner Mehidy Hasan picked up a 12-wicket haul as Bangladesh beat the Windies by an innings and 184 runs inside just three days.
With it, the Tigers pulled off their first Test win by an innings in history as they sealed a 2-0 victory in the two-match series. The historic Test win for Bangladesh was even sweeter for Shakib after his side’s meek capitulation to the same opposition during their tour of the Caribbean in July this year.
“This is the first time we enforced the follow-on in more than 100 Tests in 18 years, which is definitely something special,” the Bangladesh skipper stated after the win.
“We haven’t done this against smaller teams, so to do it against a higher-ranked side is an achievement. We obviously had a lot to prove after losing to them in that manner (in July). I think we have done that at least at home.
Mehidy Hasan was the star of the match for Bangladesh.
“I would thank my team-mates and the coaching staff, for believing that it was possible. I was quite demanding of my players in this series. I wanted a lot from them. I think everyone contributed in their own way, but I saw everyone really wanting to contribute to the win.”
In their tour of the Caribbean earlier this year, Bangladesh had suffered the ignominy of being bowled out for just 43 runs in the opening Test. For Shakib, Sunday’s win over the opposition will soothe some of the pain of suffering that humiliation.
“We never expected such a performance in the West Indies. We held discussions after the Test series defeat there, and then came back strongly in the ODIs and T20Is,” Shakib said.
“Since we didn’t do well in the Tests there, we had this opportunity to do well at home. We wanted people to at least understand that it was a performance in their home conditions, and see that we could do the same in our home conditions.”