Rahim proud of Bangladesh's performance despite narrow defeat

Johannesburg [South Africa], Oct.24 (ANI): Despite suffering a heart-broken 22-run defeat at the hands of England in the opening Test, Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim has insisted that he is really proud with the way his side fought against the Alastair Cook-led team in Chittagong. Bangladesh began the day needing just 33 runs with two wickets remaining to clinch what could have been their maiden Test victory over England. Sabbir Rahman (unbeaten 64) and Taijul Islam (16) calmly added 10 runs before the latter was given lbw off Stokes' delivery after the review. In the same over, Stokes dismissed last man Shafiul Islam for a duck, thus eventually bundling out Bangladesh for 263 in their 286 runs of chase. Rahim, however, said that his players had put in their absolute best despite not playing the longest-format of the game in last 15 months. "Probably, it was not in our favour, 33 runs and two wickets, but the boys put in so much effort over the last five days, after 15 months. I'm really proud. They scored 240 in the second innings, if we'd managed to get 290 in our first innings, it would have brought it [the target] down," Rahim was quoted as saying by Sport24. The 28-year-old, who scored 48 and 39 in the two innings, further hoped to see a similar kind of fighting spirit in the next match in Dhaka. "Our boys fought it out which is really impressive and hopefully we'll do the same in the next match," he said. Meanwhile, England skipper Alastair Cook looked certainly relieved after clinching an unlikely win. Admitting that it was a `tight` match, Cook said that he was glad to see his side hold their nerves and display quality bowling attack against Bangladesh. "It was a really good Test match, to think we were here on day five with that wicket. It was such a tight game, so credit to both sides. I'm glad we held our nerve, the quality we have in our attack, we got it reversing," he said. Earlier, Shakib al Hasan scalped a five-wicket haul to help Bangladesh bundle out the Cook-led side for 240 in the second innings after the hosts conceded a first innings lead of 45 runs. Stokes, who also contributed a significant 85 in his side's second innings besides claiming six wickets overall, was declared `Man of the Match`. With the win, England have now taken an unassailable 1-0 lead in the series. The two sides will play their second and final match on October 28 in Dhaka. (ANI)