Belim urges Tigers to take South Africa tour one Test at a time

Former Bangladesh opener Javed Omar Belim has urged the national team to approach their upcoming Test series against South Africa with a positive mindset, stressing that consistency will be the key to producing a good result in challenging conditions.

Belim believes the Tigers have improved significantly in Test cricket over the past two years despite their recent setbacks against the West Indies at home.

“Playing against South Africa in South Africa is always a big challenge. We lost the West Indies series at home, and that will certainly create some pressure. But rather than thinking too far ahead, we should focus on playing our own brand of cricket,” Belim said in an interview.

Bangladesh lost the opening Test against the West Indies before salvaging a draw in the second match, with Towhid Hridoy playing a crucial role with the bat.

Belim, however, believes the current team has a more mature mentality than previous generations and should draw confidence from their historic away victories against New Zealand and Australia.

“Now, we take the field with the mindset that we want to perform well and win the series. I believe the players no longer think negatively. They should take it one Test at a time,” he added.

The former opener also identified batting consistency as a major concern, while emphasising the importance of both pace and spin bowling in South African conditions.

“If we can score good runs, that will put us in a strong position. Our fast bowlers have been performing consistently, but our spinners also have an important role to play,” he said.

Turning his attention to football, Belim expressed optimism about Bangladesh's chances in the ongoing SAFF Championship on home soil following their impressive 4-0 victory over Sri Lanka.

“If Bangladesh can win a tournament like this, more spectators will return to the stadiums, football's popularity will grow, and our players will gain greater confidence,” he concluded.