Shanto said the pitch looked good for batting but expected it to offer assistance to spinners as the match progressed. West Indies captain Roston Chase, meanwhile, said his team was confident of its preparations and aimed to win the two-match series 2-0.
Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto said the team wanted to make the most of the conditions early in the match.
“We will bat first, looks like a pretty good pitch and will spin later.”
Shanto said Bangladesh had discussed the need to build bigger partnerships after a promising start in the previous Test.
“I think we started very well, especially in the last Test. The opening partnership was good. But the thing is, we need to make big partnerships. We need to build a lot of partnerships. So that was the discussion we had before this Test match.”
Bangladesh are playing three spinners and two seamers, with all-rounders in the side.
West Indies captain Roston Chase said his team would focus on the players available rather than worry about the absence of key players such as Alzarri Joseph and Shai Hope.
“No, they are good players, but we have to work with what we came here with, the 15 guys that we have. We have belief in all 15 guys, so we’re just going to go with those guys.”
Chase also spoke about the team’s target in the WTC standings, saying West Indies wanted to make the most of the two-match series.
“Yeah, well, we know if we can come fifth or sixth in the team rankings, that would be good for us. So that’s the goal for us, to come here and win this two-match series 2-0.”
Teams
Bangladesh (Playing XI): Shadman Islam, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Mominul Haque, Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Towhid Hridoy, Litton Das (w), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Nayeem Hasan, Taijul Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Shoriful Islam.
West Indies (Playing XI): John Campbell, Brandon King, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Kavem Hodge, Amir Jangoo (w), Roston Chase (c), Justin Greaves, Shamar Joseph, Kevin Wickham, Jayden Seales, Joshua Bishop.