West Indies captain Roston Chase said on Saturday that they are eyeing a series win over Bangladesh to end the current ICC World Test Championship (WTC) cycle on a high. West Indies earned an eight-wicket win over Bangladesh in the opening Test of the two-match series in Dhaka, which is part of the ongoing WTC cycle. Both teams will now move to Sylhet for the second Test, scheduled to begin on November 5. The touring skipper said they were not getting carried away after winning the series opener, as the job was still only half done. “Winning a Test match anywhere in any conditions is a beautiful feeling, but we came here to win the series. This is just the first of two legs,” said Chase. West Indies head coach Phil Simmons said the bowlers broke the backbone of Bangladesh’s batting in the second innings by picking up quick wickets, which set the tone for them in the game. “I think the start that we had in the second innings with the ball, I thought that we put them under pressure and we got, I think it was four quick wickets early in that second innings,” said Simmons. “I thought that really broke the back of the Bangladeshi batting and then we just had to stay patient from there and try to get the other wickets, and that we did,” he said. “I don’t want to say we let them off, but I thought especially Nayeem this morning played well for the 50 that he got and he kept us out there longer than we wanted to be. But as I said, we stayed patient and we stuck to our plans and our processes and we got them to a total that we thought was more than manageable,” he said. “I thought 170 was manageable because I thought the wicket was still a good wicket. I didn’t think the wicket had any devils in it, it was still playing consistently. I thought it had a bit of bounce as well, probably the first time I saw a wicket in Dhaka with so much bounce,” he said. “I just wanted us to go out there and get a good start and I thought that was the key, and that we did. And then I just wanted my guys to go out there and play with intent. Although Bangladesh have some good spinners and whatnot, I just wanted them to go out there and, if the Bangladeshi spinners are offline, try to punish them,” he said. “Don’t let them just settle and bowl and bowl and bowl, because we know when they get into that rhythm and they start spotting the ball in front of you and they start to get that confidence, and then things start to happen. So I just thought that start was very key for us as well,” he added. Simmons said they had taken a last-minute decision to leave out Kemar Roach and play spinner Joshua Bishop after the pitch was shaved on the first morning. “It was shocking for us to see that much grass off,” said Simmons. “We made a last-minute change in leaving out Roach and bringing in Bishop,” he said. “When the green grass got shaven off, I thought it would be more suitable for the spinners. I thought that we read it correctly,” he added. Meanwhile, Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said their dream of reaching the World Test Championship final had become difficult after the defeat to West Indies. A win against West Indies would have put them in a strong position towards their goal of earning a spot in the WTC final, but the defeat has dented their hopes. They now need four wins and a draw from their remaining five Test matches against West Indies, South Africa and England. “It’s difficult, to be very honest. But as I said in the first press conference, we are looking at one match at a time. This Test match we didn’t play our best. So looking forward to the second Test, how we come back strongly,” said Najmul, while rejecting suggestions that the points table had influenced the preparation of the surface. “The points table did not come to mind. The condition was set by thinking about the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. I don’t think it was made thinking about the Test Championship final,” he said. “Spinners have always won us matches in the past. That confidence was there before and it is still there. I don’t think we made too many mistakes about the conditions,” he said. “After setting 170, we believed it could be defended, given the state of the pitch. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. We could have bowled a bit better on this wicket. We didn’t bowl very well,” he said. “We could not pick the length very well. It was a bit scattered. In the fourth innings we took only two wickets,” he added. Najmul pointed to his own first-innings batting as a key factor in the defeat, saying he should have taken greater responsibility as a senior batter. “In the first innings, I should have taken more responsibility as a senior batsman. I have played here for a long time and I know these conditions. If I could have made a big score, the team could have been 370 instead of 270,” said Najmul. “We fell back in the first innings. We knew batting later would be difficult. I would say the mistake was made in the first innings,” he said, adding that they also missed Mushfiqur Rahim, who sat out the Test after injuring his finger during preparations for the opening game. “We missed him. An experienced cricketer in this kind of condition. It would have been good if he was here,” Najmul concluded.
