We have lot of areas where we can improve: Shakib Al Hasan

Bangladesh Test captain Shakib al Hasan has revealed that they will need to go back to the drawing board and plan their approach in Test cricket. His comments came after Bangladesh's 10-wicket defeat to West Indies in the second Test in St Lucia on Monday (June 27).

Shakib was brought back into the leadership role after Mominul Haque decided to step down before the tour, but this move didn't help Bangladesh as they were swept away by the hosts in the two-match Test series. 

Their batting has often let down Bangladesh, and things have not changed in the Caribbean. Shakib believes that it was mainly due to the lack of game awareness and their will to fight it out till the end of the game.

"Game awareness is an important thing and if we take this Test into consideration, we lost wickets just before drinks break, lunch break or just before the rain was coming. And if this was not the case, the situation might have been different. These things are part of game awareness and what I feel in these two Test matches, we could not show as much character as we are capable of showing and we were not as tough as we could be," Shakib said after the game.

Shakib further stated that it is high time the group sat together and planned for their next Test series, which is five months away. Bangladesh will host India in December in a two-match Test series and three ODIs in Dhaka and Chattogram.

"Look we have to improve in every department (not just batting) if we want to win a Test match. I think it is good that we have a long gap so I feel during this gap those who are interested in playing Tests and want to play Tests will be working individually to improve,"

"Without improvement there is no way we can do well and there is no set of players who will do well if they are called. So if we can move forward by making a plan with the set of available players and the other three to four players who are outside I feel we can do something good. Otherwise it is difficult to have any big change from what had happened so far,"

"So we have to make changes in a couple of areas and to do that we have to change our mentality because that is important and we have work to do in this aspect (making changes along with mental shift)," he stated.

Meanwhile, Shakib has also added that the lack of Test cricket culture is one of the reasons why they are leaning towards white-ball cricket only, claiming that change in scenario is essential to succeed. He also stated that they must ensure they consistently do well at home.

"I think you can't fault the players totally for it (being less interested in Tests) because our system is like that. When did you see that 30,000 or 25,000 fans are watching a Test match from the ground whereas in England this happens in every match. So there was no Test culture in our country before and that is not there even today," shared Shakib.

Meanwhile, Shakib-Al-Hasan is confident of the team bouncing back strongly in the white-ball series against West Indies. He also said that it was essential to do well against the West Indies to give themselves a boost before the Asia Cup and the all-important ICC T20 World Cup, which will take place later this year.

"If you consider the preparation for the ICC World Cup then it (the T20 series against West Indies) is important because we will play Asia Cup and then World Cup so we don't have much of time and taking that into consideration it is very important series for us. I think it will be a big challenge for us taking on West Indies in the T20s,"

"If we can do well here, this confidence will really help when we play Asia Cup in Sri Lanka because it will help us to carry a good mindset because I know Asia Cup will be really tough where there will be India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Sri Lanka is playing well consistently. We have lot of areas where we can improve but if we can play as a team I believe that we can win this series," he concluded.