“I don’t think anyone will forget what he have done in Darwin but it is also true that we didn’t play good cricket in this Test,” Shanto said. “When you look at how Australia played in Mackay, you realise exactly what type of team we defeated in Darwin. They decided to bowl first at home, which I have heard they don’t often do. Australia’s comeback showed how much we challenged them.

“I personally didn’t feel too excited after winning in Darwin. I initially treated this as just another Test win. I think when I was observing what has been happening in the last two days in Mackay, especially from the dugout or slip cordon, I have had the realisation what we have actually done. We won a good Test match in Darwin. It is a win to be proud of. We now have two wins of such magnitude. We have defeated New Zealand and Australia in their conditions. I hope we do it in South Africa, which will only help our Test team.”

Shanto admitted that his side did have the emotional hangover from Darwin, but they were happy with their preparation leading up to the second Test. Bangladesh trained for a couple of days in the new conditions, and remarked immediately that the practice pitches had more bounce than in Darwin.

“Emotion is always there, but as I said in the [pre-match] press conference, as a professional player we need to be very much clear about this Test match,” he said. “I believe the players were quite happy with their preparation and the mindset. We just didn’t play at our best.

“We could have batted better in the second innings. I think Australia also struggled when they batted in their first innings. We have to admit that it was a tough wicket, but we also played some bad shots. I don’t want to point finger at anyone in particular but we played poorly as a team.”

“My dismissal, after getting set, isn’t acceptable, to be very hones. I should have hung around for longer”

Najmul Hossain Shanto

Bangladesh have generally had trouble managing their emotional highs and lows as a team. There have been numerous examples of the team performing poorly immediately after a significant victory.

Here, the difference between Darwin and Mackay was like night and day, despite Shanto underlining the difficulty playing on a pitch which the curator himself dubbed as “similar to Brisbane”.

Tanzid Hasan, Mominul Haque and Shanto couldn’t replicate their mindset from Darwin, getting out cheaply in Mackay. Bangladesh’s middle order too caved quickly, most notably Litton Das who bagged three ducks in the Test series, without scoring a run in the series.

Shanto, however, said that while he put his hand up for his untimely dismissal in the second innings in Mackay, he wouldn’t blame anyone else for their lapse in concentration.

“My dismissal, after getting set, isn’t acceptable, to be very honest,” he said. “I should have hung around for longer. I think we have tried really hard on this tour. We have to realise that we haven’t played in these conditions, against this type of bowling attack before. I think it’s important how we can use this experience in the future.

“Litton has played some great knocks recently, so I am not really looking at these three zeroes. I still feel his batting at No. 6 is effective for the team. You can get out to a good ball in these conditions. We know his quality. I think he has huge impact in the Bangladesh Test team. I am hopeful that he will come back strongly in the next series.”