‘Mentality is our main strength’

Sikandar Raza said yesterday that their impressive performance in the home Tests against Sri Lanka has provided much confidence ahead of the one-off Test against Bangladesh starting tomorrow in Mirpur.

"We lost the first Test against Sri Lanka, which we could easily have drawn. The second Test was a lot closer than the result showed. We have taken a lot of confidence from there. We are playing our third Test in a very short span, but over the years Zimbabwe have always played well in Bangladesh," said Raza, who was adjudged player-of-the-match in their last Test against Sri Lanka in Harare.

"Over the years, the way we apply ourselves, it is nice and fresh to see the way the boys have come again with a strong mentality. The mentality of the boys is our main strength. We always had a strong mentality. We are ready for the challenge," he added.

Raza also recalled their success in Sylhet against the Tigers.

"Bangladesh spinners have a very good record against us but I think with the experience we have of coming to Bangladesh, we learned something and tried to improve our game, and you can say that their spinners have taken lot of wickets, but we have started to score some runs against them. The Test match in Sylhet was a prime example of that, where we won that game."