Seniors’ advise to the debutant

Shadman Islam played a handy knock for the Tigers today in his debut Test innings and the seniors of the side had some good advice for him, the cricketer informed while talking to reporters during a press-conference.

Shadman showed patience and his innings was characterised by the toughness that is required of Test cricket. He started his innings with Soumya Sarkar at the other end and they put on a solid opening partnership. He then batted with Shakib Al Hasan, who advised him on how to go about his business.

"They have a lot of experience compared to me. They were telling me to bat the way I did in domestic cricket," Sadman revealed when asked what the likes of Soumya and Shakib were telling him when he was batting.

"'You play the way you can manage. There is no need to do anything extra. Play your game as you always do with your natural shots,' they told me," Shadman added.

Shadman was allowed to play his role and be his usual calm self and he was able to show his Test-playing mentality, something that reminded everyone about what skipper Shakib Al Hasan had earlier said about telling the players to play their natural game. Along with Nayeem Hasan, who bagged a fifer and a World-record in the last Test, Bangladesh have now handed Test debuts to two players in this series. Their performance is also proof of the kind of environment the seniors have tried to build in and around the squad, something which will help Bangladesh in years to come.