Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha urged his players to enjoy the position they are at and not take any pressure when they face the mighty Indians in the second quarterfinal of the World Cup on Thursday.
It has been the best World Cup outing for the Bangladesh cricket team and not many had bet on the performance they displayed in the past one month in Australia. Hathurusingha believes arriving down-under weeks before the tournament has helped them gel a great deal.
After a relaxing weekend, the Tigers resumed their training yesterday ahead of the all important clash in Melbourne. The players were brimming in confidence during their practice session while star all-rounder Shakib al Hasan running an extra lap after the nets indicated how focused he is on his own preparation.
“I don’t think there is any hidden secret to our success,” said Hathurusingha adding, “The preparation was thorough.”
He said, “Not playing a lot of cricket in the lead up to the World Cup was a good thing as we reached Brisbane a bit early to acclimatize to the Australian conditions. That was a key thing. Also we are peaking at the right time. All our key players are in form and touch-wood there are very less injuries. The players are improving with every game.”
The hype created involving the game has already reached its peak and the former Sri Lankan cricketer believes the side who will enjoy the game will have the edge and the Bangladesh win over India in the 2007 World Cup will hardly have an impact.
“The team that enjoys will have a better game. We should embrace the opportunity presented and enjoy the situation. For us nothing to prove as we are good enough and that’s why we are here,” he said.
Hathurusingha informed of working with the players closely and altering few techniques that proved crucial and his coaching experience with the Sydney Thunder’s prior to joining Bangladesh helped him a lot.
The 46-year-old praised fast bowler Rubel Hossain for his input and approach despite being linked with off-field controversies. He said Rubel showed professional attitude and was able to divert away from distractions very well.
Talking about pacers, Hathurusingha also spoke about chalking out a plan for the Indian team who apart from having a strong batting unit also contains seamers who delivered goods consistently in the World Cup so far.
“India is playing very good cricket. We won’t analyse specific game but do an analysis of our strength compared to India. India are a good batting side. They had a good World Cup and how well their fast bowlers have bowled. That’s one area that we would probably keep an eye on,” he said.
