Tigers recharging themselves ahead of Australia clash

It was a bright sunny morning in London as all-rounder Shakib al Hasan walked out of the lobby of the Grange City Hotel in Tower Hill on Friday. A few of his friends were waiting for him to take him to a tour of the capital city of England. Just before that, Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha also appeared in a light mood as he, along with one of his friends, went out for a walk while the centurion of the game against England, Tamim Iqbal was accompanied by the BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury and a few other board directors as they went for the Friday prayers. It was a relaxed day for the Bangladesh cricketers following their eight-wicket defeat against the home side on Thursday as the team management opted to roam around freely before resuming training from Saturday. Later, the players attended an Iftar party, arranged by the Bangladesh High Commission in London. The cricketers were joined by the BCB president Nazmul Hasan. Tamim, who smashed his ninth century, and second against England, looked quite depressed when asked about the events of Thursday. “Don’t ask about the game please,” said Tamim before adding, “You know they played brilliantly and we should admit that. But it’s not like we did not try. Let’s see what happens in the next game,” said Tamim. The mood in the Bangladesh camp was obviously not as charged as it was even a day ago but there was no short of confidence looking at the body language of the Tigers cricketers after the England defeat. It was learned that the top ECB officials praised the performance of Bangladesh and at one point of the game when skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza took the early wicket of opener Jason Roy defending the target of 306 runs, the situation was tense for the officials of the home side. Members of the Surrey cricket team were also impressed at the way Bangladesh gave a fright to the host in the big stage. The Tigers will take on Australia in their second game of the tournament on Monday and prior to that match, Bangladesh would definitely want to gather more energy and refresh themselves by doing some sightseeing in the beautiful city of London.