Moeen Ali admitted he received more than his share of good fortune as his 68 helped England post 258 for seven on the opening day of the first Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong.
Moeen was given out three times by umpire Kumar Dharmasena but successfully overturned each decision, while Bangladesh spurned two reviews on the left-hander, whose 88-run stand with Jonny Bairstow (52) dug the tourists out of a hole.
"The first one I thought I was out actually," he said on Sky Sports 2. "Rooty (Joe Root) said no, it was going to go down leg.
"It was a bit demoralising actually. I just knew the finger was going to go up every time. But it was my day today.
"I think it's very tough for the umpires as well to know how much it's actually spinning. It's one of those things that everything today in terms of reviews went my way."
Moeen, who revealed England were taken aback by just how soon in the match the ball spun, said they still had work to do on Friday morning to make their first-innings total an imposing one."
He said: "The wicket is spinning quite a bit, in the end it was not a bad little total to end the day, but I think we need a few more tomorrow and hopefully it will be a good first innings.
"We didn't expect it to spin as much as it has done (from the start), maybe later in the day. But it actually spun straight away with the new ball. It was a very tough pitch."
Moeen, who was batting at five, added: "It wasn't easy to start off with. It's not an easy pitch to get yourself in on."
Eighteen-year-old debutant Mehedi Hasan caused England most problems, returning figures of five for 64 from 33 overs.
And Moeen said the teenager's display had pointed the way for England's spinners.
"I thought he bowled really well, he was very accurate. He kept the stumps in play," Moeen added.
Mehedi said: "I am really happy. We know that England are a good Test side. I tried to bowl well. I am not tired, because when we play domestic cricket I bowl a lot."
Source: PA
