‘This is a big achievement’ – Shakib Al Hasan

It was a rare achievement on the part of the Bangladesh team. It was their first innings victory – after 38 similar reversals – and first series sweep against the Windies, against who they went down by an innings and 219 runs and by 166 runs while on tour earlier this year.

That hurt, conceded Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh captain, after the series win.

“It is not like replying to them but there is an advantage of playing at home and away series. We could take the advantage of playing at home. After losing that way, we had something to prove at least in our own backyard,” said Shakib.

Shakib, the team’s premier all-rounder, admitted to being ‘demanding’ of his teammates.

“I was very demanding because I wanted to achieve something badly,” he said. “I am happy that the team management and players also believed we could do it. I don't think anyone expected the way we performed in West Indies, though we did well in the shorter formats.

“We wanted to do something like this so that people could understand that they had taken the home advantage and we took it at our own backyard.”

Bangladesh, at No.9 in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings, had played 14 Tests before this series against their eighth-ranked opponents, and won two of them, both on the 2009 tour when they took on a depleted Windies side led by Floyd Reifer.

This one, Shakib felt, was a bigger feat, and one that proved Bangladesh were on the right track.

“We have played more than 100 Test but for the first time we did something like this. We did not whitewash any team, who were higher in rank at home, so this series has given us a lot,” he said.

“I think that [2009 win] was the start and this is the testament that we are on the right track. That series was a turning point in our cricket as we started to believe that we can win. But this one is naturally special.”