Country’s ace all-rounder Shakib al Hasan believes it will be tough for them to face the three former World Twenty20 champions in their group and said it will be a challenge to them. Bangladesh returned to practice for the World Twenty20 Super 10 after a two-day rest following their disastrous effort against Hong Kong in their last match of the first round.
“It’s tough but obviously it will be a tough competition for us as we have to play four world champions on our group. But it will also be a good challenge that we can face the big teams and we have the ability to win,” said Shakib after their training session at the Fatullah stadium yesterday.
The south paw before the tournament began asked not to put the expectations high and he reminded the saying yet again as he agreed that their momentum was rocked by the defeat against ICC Associate Member’s Hong Kong.
“Of course a defeat affects the momentum and that’s why I said before the start of the tournament not to expect much and rather enjoy the match. Everyone will support when we play well and critisise when we don’t play well. But one should critisise constructively which will also help us,” he said.
The 26-year-old reflected on the Hong Kong match and said, “When we face the bigger sides we always target them and when we win, those big teams also felt like we did against Hong Kong. We should not lose these types of matches and though we always play for win but sometimes it happens in cricket.”
The Tigers had their middle order tested for the first time against the minnows where they failed miserably. Bangladesh lost their last six wickets for just 23 runs which saw them getting bundled out for 108. Shakib thought they should have scored at least 160-140 runs from the position they were in, and the failure has them working hard now.
Bangladesh’s most experience T20 cricketer, Shakib brushed away any concerns regarding their commitment and said they are always fully committed to the game.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh physio Vibhav Singh cleared Mashrafe bin Mortaza, who was sidelined against Hong Kong with a side strain, and said the fast bowler is fit to play.
“Mashrafe has given all the fitness test today (yesterday) and also trained, fielded and bowled too where he passed all the tests,” said Vibhav before adding, “The pain may increase when his body gets cold and we have to assess how his body is reacting. We have a practice tomorrow (today) and after the training we can say anything (for sure).”
Vibhav added that Bangladesh has matches coming up in short period and they have to keep many things in mind and not hurry with his recovery.