England captain Cook amazed by fourth innings Bangladesh reply

England skipper Alastair Cook is taken aback by the way Bangladesh battled in the fourth innings run-chase in the first Test.

England set Bangladesh a target of 286 on a pitch getting tougher for batsmen by the session at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong.

Facing a daunting challenge, the Tigers batsmen put up dogged resistance. A fluent start from Imrul Kayes and a fine partnership between captain Mushfiqur Rahim and debutant Sabbir Rahman took them close to the finish line.

But needing 33 with two wickets in hand on the morning of the final day, Ben Stokes broke Bangladesh resolve to prevail by 22 runs – a defeat by the slimmest margin for the hosts in Tests.

"I did genuinely think 280 was going to be enough, I didn't think it would get as close as that and the way they played spin in particular was very impressive," Cook later said.

After the match, Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim said they felt the match was leaning 90 percent towards the tourists. Cook shared his Bangladesh counterpart's view.

"I was fairly confident this morning. 30 odd runs and two wickets... I thought we'd create the chances, the doubt was whether we were good enough to take those chances," he said

"They might be half chances but I thought we'd create enough to win the game so I was fairly relaxed."

Bangladesh were 221-5 in their first innings at the outset of the third day after bowling England out for 293. Bangladesh were in a position to take a first innings lead to put England under pressure.

But they ended up crumbling to 248 all out after Stokes ran through their lower order.

Cook believes the superb bowling was decisive for the outcome of the match.

"The crucial moment was probably the beginning of day three when they were 70 or 80 behind with 5 wickets in hand and we managed to get a lead. That was the crucial difference. It was a brilliant Test," he said.

With the India trip following after this tour, the 31-year-old opener said there would be changes to the team for the second Test.

"I'm pretty sure there will be some changes, just due to what we have coming up…We were pretty clear when we came out that we would rotate, so I'd imagine there might be a couple of changes.

The teams will return to Dhaka for the second Test which begins on Friday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.