Four warm-up defeats in as many matches, including the four-wicket loss against Associates Ireland last Thursday, have shattered the morale of the Bangladesh cricket team and raised many concerns on the eve of the 2015 ICC World Cup.
And with their Pool A opener against Afghanistan looming in the horizon, Bangladesh Cricket Board president will be looking to boost the morale of the cricketers. The BCB boss is all set to fly for Australia tomorrow where he will have conversations with the demoralised cricketers.
“I have seen in the newspapers what Mashrafe [bin Mortaza] said after the defeat and it appeared that they are mentally down. Now it’s time to boost their morale. So, we are flying to Australia and I hope that I can reach there before the match. I will talk to the cricketers. I think winning and losing is part of the game but Thursday’s defeat was disappointing. I thought we could win that game but we failed,” Nazmul told the media yesterday.
The BCB president also informed that he will talk to the cricketers over phone before departing for Australia.
The Tigers’ batting department failed to last the 50 overs against the Irish, for the fourth match in succession, having been dismissed for 189 in 48.2 overs.
Skipper Mashrafe raised doubts as to whether some of the cricketers were treating the warm-ups seriously. He added that the loss against Ireland will serve as a warning sign ahead of their opening game.
The Tigers had experienced a bitter defeat against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup last year and according to Nazmul, both the Afghans and Scotland are better suited to the conditions in Australia and New Zealand than Bangladesh.
“No doubt, Scotland and Afghanistan are the better sides in those conditions in comparison to us as Scotland posted a huge win over Ireland and also scored 310 against the West Indies while chasing 313. I think our main problem is the batting department. We could not perform so far. We need at least 2-3 batsmen to score big,” Nazmul added.