Mashrafe targeting aggressive cricket

Bangladesh will be confident when they take on Afghanistan in the first of the three-match one-day international series in Mirpur's Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium today. Tigers limited-over captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza said this in the pre-match press conference yesterday. Mashrafe also informed that his team would like to start from where they had left off in their last ODI series nearly a year ago, against Zimbabwe at home. But then again, he said they will have to play according to the merit of the situation and the conditions. “We want to play aggressive cricket and start from where we had left off in our last ODI. There are times when we have to play defensive. This series is very important for us given that we have not played this format for around a year. At the same time, Afghanistan are also coming up well as a team,” Mashrafe told the media. Bearing in mind that Afghanistan are an ICC Associate side, majority have termed the series as part of Bangladesh's preparation for their upcoming bilateral series at home against England. Mashrafe however, thinks otherwise. “There is no reason for us to think that the series will be easy. Rather, we should go in the middle treating this as one of the toughest series. The start will be crucial and we are looking forward to that,” said Mashrafe. Bangladesh are currently placed seventh in the ODI rankings with 98 points and a 3-0 whitewash over the Afghans and a 2-1 series win against England will help them move to sixth position, ahead of Sri Lanka, on decimal points. Mashrafe though refused to look too far ahead, saying, “I have not thought about ranking to be honest. A year and a half ago, we never thought of being in the position that we are in right now (No 7) in the ranking table. For me, it is not a subject to think about.”