'Didn’t pay attention to what people said'
In the post-day press conference, Shanto revealed that he didn't really pay too much attention to the negativity from the public and as a result that didn't affect his game.
Najmul Hossain Shanto is regarded as one of the brightest prospects of Bangladesh cricket and BCB's most invested player.
There were plenty of criticisms and talks about Shanto's batting form among the Bangladesh cricket fraternity as he had been struggling to score runs in the intentional arena despite having so much potential and faith put in him.
People even trolled him on social media for not scoring runs.
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But he answered all the critics with a calm hundred against Sri Lanka in the first innings of the first Test.
He finally broke the shackles with his maiden international hundred that too away from home in Kandy on Wednesday.
Shanto starred with the bat with a magnificent hundred and remained unbeaten on 126 off 288 balls.
In the post-day press conference, Shanto revealed that he didn't really pay too much attention to the negativity from the public and as a result that didn't affect his game.
"Honestly, I haven't seen too much of what has been said on social media. My family told me about it but I guess people said what they said because they have better expectations from me and think that I'd do well. So that's my goal and make sure that I do what I can do well," he said.
The southpaw believes that the pitch is good for batting even though it has grass on it and they can decide on what's a winnable total after the first session on day two.
"If we can bat well in the first session, we can then decide on what type of total will be a winnable total. I just enjoyed while batting but the new ball was challenging, especially on this wicket. The focus was to watch the balls because they were bowling in good lines and there were no freebies," he added.
Despite scoring his maiden Test ton, Shanto didn't celebrate much after reaching that milestone.
He explained that he had his "sight set on playing a big inning, batting till the end of the day and coming out to bat again on the next day. The work is not done."
And indeed, for Bangladesh, they will have to ensure that they bat long enough and score enough runs to ensure the good work they have done on day one counts for something positive at the end of the Test match.
Bangladesh have started their tour to Sri Lanka in the best way possible as the visitors piled up a commanding 302 for two at stumps on day one of the first Test match at Palleke International Cricket Stadium in Kandy.
Tamim Iqbal missed out on a well deserved hundred by 10 runs while skipper Mominul Haque remained unbeaten on 64.
