Bangladesh v England: Joe Root says tourists will not underestimate Tigers

Batsman Joe Root says England will not underestimate Bangladesh when the two-Test series begins in Chittagong on Thursday.

England have won all eight of their previous meetings, but Bangladesh drew home series with Pakistan, India and South Africa last year.

"It's Test cricket. I don't think you can ever take it lightly," said Root.

"They're a very exciting side with some very dangerous players. We're going to have to play really well to beat them."

Captain Alastair Cook suggested England would select three spinners and three seamers for the series opener, against a side that have not played Test cricket since August 2015.

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Root, 25, was rested for England's one-day series win in Bangladesh which preceded the Tests.

"You do need that bit of time to recover and stay fresh mentally and physically, but it's hard when you're sat on the sofa watching the rest of the guys out there playing," Root told BBC Sport.

"It keeps you hungry and makes you really excited about playing again when you get that opportunity."

'Heat and pressure will be relentless'

England face a formidable pre-Christmas schedule, playing two Tests in Bangladesh and five in India in the space of nine weeks.

Cook said on Tuesday that England are likely to rotate their team, with the fast bowlers "very unlikely" to play all seven Tests.

Root added: "It would be a big ask to ask just 11 blokes to play seven on the bounce, so it's exciting and it'll keep everyone very interested in practice.

"I don't think at any stage anyone will go through the motions. Everyone will be desperate to prove a point."

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Cook, 31, said England must cope with the "relentless heat and pressure" on the subcontinent.

"You are testing yourself in conditions that are very alien to English players," he told BBC Sport.

"You don't often get the flurry of wickets you do in England or Australia, or the flurry or runs where you can change a session quickly.

"You can lose a lot of wickets quickly towards the end of the game, but the first three or four days of cricket is hard and normally quite even.

"The clue is in the name. It's Test cricket - that's why it is such a good game."

Another record beckons...

The first Test in Chittagong will be Cook's 134th - breaking Alec Stewart's England record - and his 132nd in a row.

Cook, who has scored the most Test runs and made the most Test centuries for England, told BBC Sport: "I'm clearly very proud to beat a record set by an England great.

"There were a lot of moments where it was touch and go whether I was going to get picked. I scored just enough runs at the right period of time to continue."

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He is likely to be open the batting with Haseeb Hameed, 19, or Ben Duckett, 22, neither of whom have played Test cricket.

Both made half-centuries in England's final warm-up game against a Bangladesh Cricket Board XI, Duckett having also passed 50 twice in the recent one-day series in Bangladesh.

Cook described them as "hugely talented cricketers" and said their inclusion in the squad is "really exciting for me".

'It was my duty to come back'

Cook rejoined the England squad on Monday after returning home for the birth of his second daughter.

"It's been an emotional 48 hours," he said. "It doesn't make you feel like the best husband or father leaving 18 hours after the birth, but I'm really pleased it's gone well.

"We do sacrifice a lot to play cricket. Clearly it's an incredible privilege to be captain of England and that was one of the decisions we made as a family, that it was right to come back and do your job.

"You don't know how long you are going to be captain of England or how long you are going to play for. I felt it was my duty to come back."