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Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto refrained from making any excuses for his team's heavy defeat against Sri Lanka in the first Test in Sylhet. Nevertheless, he remained optimistic about Bangladesh's development as a Test side, acknowledging the progress is going on at a slow and steady pace.

Sri Lanka’s Kasun Rajitha claimed his second five-wicket haul in Test cricket as Sri Lanka crushed Bangladesh by 328 runs on Monday in Sylhet to go 1-0 up in the two-match series.

Overnight batter Mominul Haque scored 87 not out for Bangladesh to delay the inevitable, before Lahiru Kumara (2-39) took the final wicket.

"Whatever the margin, a loss is a loss. In both innings, the top-order didn't score runs. Not just us, both team's top-order struggled. But we don't want to use that as an excuse. We need to work on how we can improve from here," Shanto said after the match.

The skipper had previously guided the Tigers to their historic maiden Test victory at home against New Zealand in December of the previous year at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.

Despite the humiliating defeat, Shanto remained resolute in his belief that the Tigers have indeed progressed in the red-ball format. Nonetheless, he candidly acknowledged that the pace of improvement has been disappointingly slow.

"After the New Zealand match, we were hearing that we have improved a lot, we have done well a lot of things have changed for the better. Even many members of the media had said so. So, we can't say that there has been no change. You can say that things haven't changed as much as it should've. We need to improve much more from now on," he added.