Chase: Our improved game against spin helped us win in Bangladesh

West Indies captain Roston Chase said that his side's improved batting against spin paved the way for a Test series win against Bangladesh. He said that choosing the spinning surfaces backfired on the home side. The drawn Sylhet Test on Monday gave them the 1-0 win after they outplayed the home side in Dhaka last week.

The visitors averaged 47.81 with the bat against Bangladesh's spin, conceding 16 wickets in the two Tests. Their spinners also bowled far better than the home unit, taking 24 wickets at 26.79. It was the key factor that decided a Test series that would have kept Bangladesh in better contention for the WTC final.

Instead, West Indies walked off with consecutive Test series wins in Bangladesh since 2021. They also completed their first calendar year since 1994 when they didn't lose a Test series.

Chase said that their batting unit's improvement against spin bowling, partly credited to a red-ball batting camp in Chennai prior to the Bangladesh series, made the difference. He said that they were ready for both pace or spin-friendly pitches, but the home side chose the latter.

"When we usually come to Bangladesh, the spinners eat us for dinner most of the times," Chase said. "But I think that we are an improved unit in terms of playing spin and also the preparation that most of the guys had going to Chennai and preparing in similar conditions in India, practicing against lots of spin and working on areas that we weren't so good at. I thought that it worked well and it just goes to show that when you prepare well, you get results.

"We came here with an open mind because we know that Bangladesh have been using the seam attack more so in the past few games that they have won. So if the wickets were seam-friendly, we would have our seamers to work in our favor and if it was spin-friendly, we would have the same artillery in the spin department. They opted to go with the spinning surfaces and it backfired on them. So, we're very happy."

Chase said that West Indies winning in Bangladesh is a big deal, given how the home side has fared in recent months. "I am very happy. Obviously, Bangladesh is always a tough place to play cricket. So, to beat them in their own backyard is always a pleasure. We wanted to win both games but it didn't happen.

"This game was a bit slower than the first one, especially with all the bad light taking time out of the game, so it made it a bit even harder for us to win. But I thought that we still played well and kudos to the guys for winning the series.

Chase looked back on West Indies' performance at the start of this WTC cycle. He said that they targeted doing better against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as they felt these were teams closer to their level.

"We had a tough time in the first year of the cycle. We spoke about coming to dominate the second year in the cycle, playing against Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. We thought that these were teams that were closer to our skill level and obviously closer to us in the rankings. So, we wanted to challenge ourselves in terms of winning all three series. We won two out of three, so I thought that it was a good year.

"We went unbeaten in a series. This is something that hasn't been done for a number of years. So, it just goes to show that when you sit down and plan and you put in the hard work that anything is achievable. I just think that we're going in the right direction as a unit and as a team," said Chase.

West Indies were well supported by their spin unit, particularly Jomel Warrican who finished the Test series with 16 wickets. It took him to 100 Test wickets, becoming only the second left-arm spinner from West Indies to reach the milestone. He is also on 76 wickets in Asia, the second most for the team behind Courtney Walsh who has 77 wickets.

"I thought Warrican bowled well in both games. He controlled his economy rate very well. I thought that he built a lot of pressure and put the balls in front of the batsmen for a long period of time. So, I thought that that was the hallmark of his bowling throughout the series, along with spinning and straightening as well. So, I thought that he really kept us in this series and really won the series for us," said Chase.

Chase said that he doesn't really regret how the Sylhet Test slipped out of their grasp on the third afternoon. Towhid Hridoy slammed an unbeaten 242, adding more than 200 runs batting with the last two batters: "We came here to win both games to see if we could move up to sixth in the Test rankings. I thought we were in a great position to push for a win, but Towhid Hridoy played a great innings and that's what Test cricket is about. Sometimes you think that you're in a commanding position and then someone comes and does something spectacular. So, that's all in the game.