“I think in Sylhet and Mirpur, Zimbabwe made us fight all the way. Some people might be a little bit surprised at the 1-1 result and the hard-fought series. I think it will do us a lot of good going into a contest against West Indies who are obviously tough opposition. We needed to go there with some tough games under our belt,” he said.
The coach came up with the remarks while talking to journalists at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram.
However, the coach is hopeful and looking forward to better results in the series as he said, “We saw them in July, but the condition here in Bangladesh is very different and hopefully we’ll have a really good two games against them.”
The coach wants to make sure that game is his boys’ own game; rather than the opponent's strength. “You should make sure about your own game. If you play your own game, then you will go a long way.”
Having back skipper and world-famed all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan in the team, Rhodes expressed his excitement saying, “It's great having back [Shakib]. We know he [Shakib] is a much tactician. He is a really important cock for a successful Bangladesh team,” the coach continued.
Regarding the bowling strength of West Indies, he said, “The obvious thing is that West Indies get a couple of quicks, especially Shannon Gabriel with his eclectic pace and fires. He is a dangerous proposition. He could be a dangerous character. We need to get rid of him. You know we don’t worry too much about the opposition.”
Replying to a query about Bangladesh’s 1-1 draw in Test series against Zimbabwe, the head coach said, “Zimbabwe proved to be a very tough opposition. They have learnt a lot from the trip to South Africa and they came here and did extremely well. So, I’m very pleased to get these results.”
The first Test will begin at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on November 22 while the second one at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on November 30.