The heroic performance by the Tigers brought out a number of flaws and shortcomings of Australia in the Test at Fatullah.

There was no doubt that Bashar and his boys touched on a number of sore points in the Australian game and Ponting and co will be eager to come down hard on the Tigers to preserve their aura of invincibility.

Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore was fully aware of Australia's vicious comeback which they had showcased on numerous occasions and said that this would make the second Test a bigger challenge.

"The second Test is probably going to be a little harder than the one in Dhaka because we gave them a scare and nearly won it. They're gonna come back pretty hard and it'll be a bigger Test for us," said the Sri Lankan-born Australian at a press conference yesterday.

"So we have got to guard against that and we need to forget everything that has happened in the first Test and go ahead and repeat as much of what we did well, which is the batting," he added.

"If you are enjoying what you do then it co-relates very strongly into doing well into whatever you are doing and in our case it's cricket. So the boys need to enjoy this experience, enjoy playing Test match cricket which they showed in the first match," he said.

Captain Habibul Bashar also echoed his coach's sentiment.

"I don't think Australia took us lightly in the first match. Maybe because we played well in that game, people are now suggesting these things. As far as we are concerned we are not bothered with what Australia is thinking. I firmly believe that if we can play as good as we can, we can be very competitive in this Test too," said a confident Bashar.

The 33-year-old Tigers skipper was also not ready to take the fatigue issue into account behind the Australians' poor show in the first Test.

"We did not have a break also. We completed the series against Sri Lanka and then headed straight into the one-dayers against Kenya."

"We have to start and think afresh. The last Test is over. There have been many positives to come out of it and we will go with those positives into the second match. But we have to show that in the field. They are the number one so there is always extra motivation when you play against them," he added.

Bashar also said that the hot and humid conditions in the port city would play into their hands.

The skipper however lamented Enamul Haque's injury and also hoped that the tail would contribute more this time.

"Enamul has an injury with his bowling finger but we will wait till the last moment to see if he recovers."

Replying to a question Bashar said that there has been a change in the off-field relationship with the Australians.

"We haven't met them too much since the first Test but we came in the same flight. The relationship is not bad but there has been a change and that has happened in both camps," said Bashar with a satisfying smile.

TEAMS
BANGLADESH (from): Javed Omar, Shahriar Nafees, Habibul Bashar (captain), Rajin Saleh, Mohammad Ashraful, Aftab Ahmed, Khaled Mashud, Nafees Iqbal, Alok Kapali, Mohammad Rafique, Mashrafee Bin Mortuza, Shahadat Hossain, Enamul Haque, Syed Rasel and Abdur Razzak.

AUSTRALIA (from): Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey, Ricky Ponting (captain), Damien Martyn, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist, Jason Gillespie, Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Clarke, Stuart MacGill, Nathan Bracken and Daniel Cullen.