Russell Domingo was appointed as head coach of Bangladesh in August © Getty

Bangladesh's head coach Russell Domingo warned his troops against complacency ahead of their solitary Test against Afghanistan slated to start on Thursday at Chittagong. Domingo felt Afghanistan will find themselves at home in the conditions in Bangladesh, and could spring a few surprises.

"They will feel conditions here will help them because if they were playing in England, Australia or New Zealand then it might have been tougher for them. They will be desperate to win and they will be very confident of springing a few surprises," Domingo said on Tuesday (September 3).

Domingo also talked up Afghanistan's spin attack, and advised his players to be wary of the challenges ahead. "Their spinners are very threatening. We have seen in shorter format how dangerous they can be. It's definitely a different format but they will definitely be threatening. They have got some match winners, like Nabi and others. Rashid is a fantastic bowler. We need to make sure that we respect them and while also score some against them because it's really important to put the pressure on their pace bowlers," Domingo opined.

Domingo kickstarts his tenure with the Afghanistan fixture and is hopeful of making a winning start. He also hinted that he wasn't getting himself too involved in the selection process as yet.

"Nobody plays to lose. It would be great to start with a win. We have to focus on our process we have to focus hard on being patience and bowling in partnership against Afghanistan. Its my first Test match with Bangladesh, I want to see how the team perform in the first Test match. I am sitting back in selection and see how things turns out in first Test match," said Domingo.

The former South African cricket coach also didn't lose a lot of sleep over Zahir Khan's fifer against BCB XI in the practice game. The chinaman bowler has experience of playing county cricket as well and thanks to his impressive performance in the practice game, might get a look in for the only Test.

"I have watched some of his footages. And some of our guys have played with him in Bangladesh Premier League or in other leagues. But at the end of the day, warm up games are just warm up games. You can't read too much into it. You can't compare warm up games and Test matches, as they are totally different."

The newly appointed coach also was hopeful of Shakib-Al-Hasan continuing to lead from the front. "He has been the leading all-rounder. So the expectations are always high. And more importantly his expectation is very high. He sets a very high standard. His performances have been fantastic in all formats. Expectation is he can improve and sustain on it," Domingo said.