Shakib Al Hasan eyes Chittagong draw

Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh's captain, is aiming to hold India to a draw in the upcoming first Test starting January 17 in Chittagong. Bangladesh have not played a Test since July and have been fed a steady diet of one-day matches since, but Shakib did not believe the team would be rusty ahead of what will be their toughest series since January of last year.

"I think the battle between India and Bangladesh this time will be an interesting one because the opponents have a long batting line-up while we have a few quality bowlers. However, we don't bother much about the result of the match," he told reporters during a training session in Chittagong. "But a draw will be good for us. I am confident that we will have a good chance if we can score 700 runs in the two innings."

Bangladesh's last Test assignment, against a severely depleted West Indies, saw them win their first overseas series. That contest was highlighted by good bowling, especially from the spinners. Since that series, Bangladesh have played only limited-overs cricket, which included a series win over Zimbabwe at home and a winless streak in the recent tri-series featuring India and Sri Lanka.

"It is true we didn't play a Test match for quite sometime, but hopefully that won't pose any major problem for us to adapt to the Test mould," said Shakib. "We batted well in the last ODIs of the tri-nation series and want to show improvement in our game in the field, not through words."