‘We’re good friends and it’s exciting to lead our teams’

Sunrisers Hyderabad teammates Shakib Al Hasan and Rashid Khan were all smiles after they met each other at Chattogram's Zahur Ahmed Cricket Stadium yesterday. The duo will be leading their respective sides in what will be Bangladesh's maiden Test match against Afghanistan tomorrow and Rashid was excited to be facing Shakib while leading his side.

While friendship will remain, Rashid was keen to do well for his country.

“It will be great fun [to play tomorrow and face Shakib]. We played together in IPL. We had the best two years there. We enjoyed a lot both in the field and off it. We are very good friends but once we step onto the field to play for our countries, we are trying our best, giving our hundred percent for our countries.

“We are good friends. It will be very exciting to be captain of our teams, leading the teams and trying our best for our countries,” Rashid said.

Rashid will become the youngest ever Test captain at the age of 20 years 350 days when he steps out in the Test match at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram. The challenge is there but Rashid talked about gaining experience. He reiterated that in the right conditions, his side -- playing in just their third Test match -- are capable of winning even if they are playing a team with more experience.

“As we said before, we are new in this format. It is not like in the third game or the fourth game, we will be beating somebody like Australia. Once we get the momentum and the proper conditions that favour us, we can defeat any side on our day. As we have seen, Bangladesh have beaten Australia over here. So once we get the conditions we can beat any side. But experience-wise, you need more games in this format. We have played a lot of T20Is and ODIs so we know what we need to do there. In this format we do not yet have the experience. The quicker we learn the better it will be for us.

Asked how many days the Test will last, Rashid replied: “Five days.”