Former Bangladesh one-day international skipper Mushfiqur Rahim believes Shakib al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and he can be the three Tigers batsman who has the firepower to be among the top five batsman in the upcoming World Cup in Australia-NewZealand.
“Obviously its a great opportunity to prove ourselves and we have done the training according to the situation in Australia. If things go well I think there will be at least three to four Bangladeshi cricketers amongst the top five best batsman in the World Cup,” said Mushfiq after completing a short “match type” situation practice at the Sher-e-Bangla National stadium yesterday.
The 26-year-old informed they have the ability to go beyond the second round of the mega event but at the same time added the first match against Afghanistan on February 18 will be crucial for their journey in rest of the tournament. While everyone is talking about the pace and bounce down under, Mushfiq surprised by saying they might even opt to open the bowling with a spinner as they believe the condition will also be friendly for spin bowling, a very strong department for Bangladesh. “If we see the recent matches in Australia the spinners are getting the success quite frequently where NewZealand are now playing with three spinners on the side. Many of them are saying that this is the last period of the season and the wickets may not offer such bounce but there will be normal bounce but not the seaming conditions.
And I think the spinners are going to get the best results as our strength is the spin department and we may even start the bowling attack with spin,” he said. The highest run scorer in the ODI’s for Bangladesh in 2014 – 704 runs in 14 innings at a staggering average of 50.28 – Mushfi q said the Test and ODI series sweep over Zimbabwe at the end of a disappointing last year is working as a huge boost for the players. The wicketkeeper earlier sustained a shoulder injury during the Dhaka Premier League last month but is said to be fully fi t after his rehabilitation programme and Mushfiq is expected to resume his glove work in the practice session today.