Their prospects for the World Test Championship are also, unsurprisingly, quite different.

Southee wants to build the new cycle on his team’s experience (particularly given that the first series took place in Bangladesh) from the time they spent in the subcontinent in recent years. New Zealand have filled their team with five spinners, although Southee believes they face a tough challenge against the home team.

“It’s foreign conditions compared to New Zealand,” Southee said. “Pace plays an important role in New Zealand. Historically, spin plays an important role in this part of the world. Our spinners have done great things in Tests. We hope they show their skills. It won’t be easy “Just get the points ( WTC). We know that Bangladesh is a great team in these conditions. “I imagine a series of very close tests.”

“It’s a different role to what we’re used to in New Zealand. We’ve got three seamers here who offer different strengths. It’s a collective bowling unit wherever you play in the world. They each play in different ways. Spin doesn’t play a role. important in New Zealand, but they will play a bigger role in Bangladesh.

In the Bangladesh pre-match press conference, Shanto had to answer questions about his imminent debut as captain in this format. He has led Bangladesh in three ODIs since September, including two matches in the recent World Cup. This time he got the role after regular Test captain Shakib Al Hasan (finger injury) and his deputy Litton Das (paternal leave) were forced to miss the series.

“It’s hard to pinpoint what I learned from those two games (in the World Cup),” he said. “It was a different format too. I discovered little things like how to handle certain things in different situations. New Zealand are a good team. They are strong. They will be a challenge in the Test series. But since we are playing at home, we should be able to challenge them with our spinners and batsmen. “If things go as planned, we can beat this team.”

Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto takes a close look at the Sylhet surface.•B.C.B.

Shanto also believed that the ideal would be to appoint a Bangladesh captain with a long-term approach.

“It helps you plan better,” he said. “I hope the board will also consider a long-term captain. But I don’t think the players are thinking too much about this. A captain will do his duty. A team always does well when everyone does their own job.”

Meanwhile, Southee spoke about how he intends to put the team’s recent experience of playing in India in the World Cup, and even their two-Test series in Pakistan earlier in the year, to good use in Bangladesh.

“We took a little look at the (Sylhet) wicket. There haven’t been many Test matches here. So there isn’t much information or statistics to base it on. I think we are expecting a pretty good surface. “The spin of the pitch will play a role. at the match. We played in Pakistan earlier this year. The boys now have a lot of experience in the subcontinent.

“I think we’ll get a closer look at the pitch. There will be some help in the morning. That’s what you get when you play this time of year. We’ve been training a little early. So the pitches have been good in training.”

Shanto said he was confident that Bangladesh’s batsmen can bounce back after a poor World Cup. He said players like Mominul Haque, Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Zakir Hasan, who recently played first-class cricket for their country, will also be freed from the burden of the World Cup.

“Zakir (Hasan, (Mahmudul Hasan) Joy and (Mominul Haque) Sourav bhai played well in the NCL this season. They have made progress in this tournament. I played one match (after the World Cup). Obviously we had a tough time, “but it was a different format. We are playing tests now. We want to pick up from where we left off in the Afghanistan test in June.”