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Pacer Hasan Mahmud backed his fielders and remained positive after a lacklustre performance on the opening day of the first Test against Ireland at the Sylhet International Stadium on Tuesday. 

Bangladesh dropped as many as five catches in 90 overs on a solid track for batting as Ireland cashed in the chances to end the day on 270-8.

Paul Stirling and Cade Carmichael both got reprieves early in their innings and went on to score fifties. Lorcan Tucker, who scored 41, was also handed a life when he was on 11. 

However, Hasan didn’t rue the missed opportunities as he looked for positives on a day where they managed to scalp eight wickets of the opposition. 

‘It’s part of the game – catches will be dropped,’ said the pacer who drew the first blood for Bangladesh on the day.  

‘But we try to take it as a positive that opportunities are coming. The fielders stay more alert for the next one. Of course, it doesn’t feel good when a catch is missed, but everyone is trying their best,’ he added. 

Fielding has been a key concern for the Tigers across the format for quite some time now. However, Hasan stated that they were trying to improve gradually. 

‘I believe everyone is working hard enough on fielding. We do fielding drills every day when we come to the ground. We’re trying to get better bit by bit,’ he said. 

‘This can happen during a game. Catch drops are part of cricket. The main thing is to recover positively — maybe we missed many today, but next time it will decrease. That’s what we focus on,’ he added. 

Despite the fielding lapses, Hasan said that they were satisfied with the overall efforts in the field. 

‘I think the wicket is very good for batting. And if we talk about bowling, we bowled with good discipline—the economy rate is around three. So, I think we finished the day very well,’ he said. 

He also stated that they’d be happy to restrict Ireland around the 300-run mark. 

He said, ‘We are in a very good position now. If we can take their early wickets tomorrow, everything will be under control. Considering this is a batting wicket, 300 isn’t too much. Hopefully, we’ll chase it down and post a good total.’ 

‘Three hundred is not a big total on a batting wicket. But we tried to keep it even lower by bowling economically. You can see the run rate is only three per over,’ he added. 

While six wickets out of eight fell on the day shared by the three spinners, Hasan and Nahid Rana took one each. 

Hasan reminded everyone that on a flat wicket like this, their primary job was to contain runs. 

‘For us, the focus is on maintaining consistency on these kinds of wickets. The goal is to bowl in good areas and contribute by keeping things tight. If the pitch is flat, our job is to be as economical as possible,’ he said.