'Proud of the boys'

It was a full circle of sorts for head coach Steve Rhodes -- his first assignment was a humbling 2-0 series in the Caribbean in July, and he has removed that black mark by paying West Indies back in kind in the return series that ended yesterday. It must have been especially gratifying for a coach who is known for spotting talent that two debutants excelled in the two-Test series. He spoke to The Daily Star after the innings-and-184-run win:

On the two debutants: Whenever we win, people always talk about the stars. But we got two remarkable debutants with Shadman [Islam's] resilience as he showed what he did in the practice game [for BCB XI against West Indies in Chattogram] and hopefully that's the start of many. Nayeem [Hasan's] five-wicket haul in Chattogram was outstanding and he has backed that in this game; maybe he didn't pick up wickets but he bowled brilliantly. He is a very capable fielder and also [good] with the bat and certainly has a big future.

The turnaround from last summer: Look, we have put in a lot of hard work since Antigua and I knew the acid test is going to be when we go abroad and how we do away from home. Coming away with a victory against West Indies in a Test series, no matter whether its home or away, is a very special effort. So I am very proud of the boys. You know we were shell-shocked in Antigua and we were hopeful of doing something similar here in Bangladesh against the West Indies.

Revenge: There is always work to do as this will be history tomorrow and we will be moving forward to the one-day series with our plans. But at the moment we will see it as a victory today and again, I talk about Shakib Al Hasan -- how he marshalled the troops over the two matches. He has done it both as a captain and an individual and his performance was commendable.