Bangladesh vs England: We play good cricket, but it won't help team progress, says Tamim Iqbal

Dhaka: Bangladesh should not be content just with playing good cricket, but must also try to win Test matches, said opener Tamim Iqbal on Wednesday, ahead of the second Test against England in Dhaka. [caption id=“attachment_3075418” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Tamim Iqbal top scored for Bangladesh with 78. AP[/caption] The home side were highly praised for the thrilling contest in the first Test in Chittagong, which they lost by 22 runs on Monday to go down 1-0 in the two-Test series. England had to wait until the fifth morning for their victory, when all-rounder Ben Stokes took two wickets in three balls to seal the win in thrilling fashion. Chasing a target of 286 runs on a difficult wicket, Bangladesh required 33 runs on the final day with two wickets in hand. But they could just add 10 runs to their overnight 253-8, before Stokes’ two-wicket burst ended their innings at 263. “From media to the common people, everybody praised us and said we played well,” said opener Tamim, who made 78 for his side in the first innings. “But if we remain content with this, I don’t think we will be able to make progress.” “At the end, we lost and we should have that disappointment in us; that will carry us forward. If we move forward thinking that our performance earned us appreciation, it won’t be good. Certainly, there were some positives as we had competed for five days, but that was not enough,” Tamim said. He added that Bangladesh must look ahead rather than dwell on the last match. “Five years from now, you will find in the scoreboard that we lost the game. There will be no mention that we played well,” he said. “So we should rather focus on the next game and try to win it,” he said. Tamim, who averages 59.20 against England in Tests, said they will go to Friday’s second Test in Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium more confident, as they were able to shrug off their shakiness and didn’t look like a team playing Test cricket after a long gap. The England series was Bangladesh’s first Test series in nearly 15 months since they hosted South Africa in July-August last year. Bangladesh barely showed any rust in the first Test, and even dominated in patches before England clawed their way back into the contest. “I don’t think there will be any shakiness since we played such a competitive game,” said Tamim. “Maybe if we could not play well after such a long gap, it would have influenced our game. Now, we are better prepared and more confident,” he said.