Nazmul, Mahmud hopeful of Tigers comeback

Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan is hopeful that the Tigers will bounce back in the second ODI against England. The BCB chief also urged the players to play positive and fearless cricket. Nazmul went on to inform that faith should be kept with the selection process as the inclusions of Mosaddek Hossain and Mosharraf Hossain and the omission of Nasir Hossain raised quite a few questions. “We want to ensure that a player will get proper chances before his exclusion. If we want to exclude Mosaddek or Mosharraf considering only one match then it is a bit unfair. In that case, the newcomers of the team will face immense pressure in future,” said Nazmul. “We have to ensure that new players will concentrate on their game and not feel concerned about getting dropped from the team after just one or two matches. “England are one of the best ODI sides now. A reason behind their success is that they are playing positive cricket. They don’t fear getting dropped from the squad after playing attacking shots. That’s why they often try to hit sixes from the very first ball, even after the fall of regular wickets. “We have the ability and also want to play such kind of positive cricket. I believe if our players can play according to their capability then we can win the next match and even the series,” he added. Bangladesh team manager Khaled Mahmud also echoed the same sentiment to that of the BCB boss. “We still believe we can win the series. We will learn from our mistakes and try to win the next one. England are better than us in the rankings. But we played really good cricket in the last two years. So I am positive about winning the series. We have that ability,” he said. “I think playing fearless cricket is our main motto now. Whoever plays, or whatever conditions we may face, if we play our best cricket then we can win. “I think batsmen should take responsibility when chasing against a big team. We can’t always rely on our tail-enders. The first seven batsmen in the batting order should take responsibility to win the game. Our batsmen batted well but the finishing was not up to the mark." He added, “If the Shakib-Imrul partnership was not broken, we could have won the match. Shakib played aggressively but his attacking play brought us back into the game and the asking rate came down to five from six." Mahmud is hopeful first ODI centurion Imrul will be fit for the second and penultimate game of the three-match series. “We hope he will be fit, and on time. Imrul batted for a long time. He also practised hard in the hot weather. Maybe that’s why he got cramps,” he said.