Australia captain Steven Smith considered the 155-run partnership between Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal in the first innings as vital in taking the game away from them.

Coming to play their 50th Test game, both of the Bangladesh’s prodigious guy lived up to the expectation in phenomenal way which materialised the hope of clinching the first Test and kept them on course of a 2-0 whitewash, that gained the momentum ahead of the series.

Now Smith admitted that they are the linchpin of this Bangladesh team, which looked really unbeatable at their own yard.

“It was a pretty close game. I think the first innings, 260 and that partnership as I said with Shakib and Tamim, that really set them up in the first innings,” Smith said.

Batting on this track that had invariable bounce was always tough in the fourth innings, Smith said and believed it was a crime to ‘let them get away a little bit.’

“We probably let them get away a little bit. I thought the first innings probably around 180, 200 would have been a good total for us and then in the first innings we weren't good enough with the bat to get in front of the game, which is always difficult particularly when you're batting last on a wicket here in the subcontinent. It's always going to be tough work.”

Australia feared that Tamim could do carnage in batting while Shakib could torment them in bowling and at the end they couldn’t do much to nullify them.

Smith said Bangladesh came long way as a team and looked unbeatable at their condition.

“They've certainly come a long way over the last couple of years. I think they're a dangerous side, particularly here at home as we've seen. They've just beaten us, they obviously beat England not too long ago, so they're a team that's confident in these conditions,” he said.

“They've got some good players. I thought that Tamim Iqbal looked very good at the top of the order, chanced his arm and played some good aggressive cricket. Shakib played particularly well in the first innings and bowled well in both innings as well, so their experienced players really stood up in this game for them. I thought they played very well.”

Smith admitted that they could bowl Shakib in more imaginative way while he was batting.

“I thought he played quite aggressively in the first innings. Any width he got, he put away. We were probably a little bit short and wide, our fast bowlers, and our spinners probably just didn't hit their lengths quite as consistently as we would have liked. I think that's the key to what Shakib does really well,” Smith said but praised Shakib’s bowling. “His lengths are spectacular and he lets the ball do whatever it needs to do off a good length. It's the hardest ball to play, the one that's on a good length, and I thought our spinners were a little bit inconsistent with their lengths.”