ZCZC
BSP-18
CRICKET-SL-BD-TAMIM
Tigers upbeat to do well in Sri Lanka
DHAKA, July 22, 2019 (BSS)-Bangladesh remains confident about their
chance to fare well in the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, despite
knowing that the Lankans are tough nut to crack at their own soil.
The Tigers though didn’t win any bilateral series here in Sri Lanka as
of now, they held the Lankans for draw in the recent two visits here in 2013
and 2017.
However they beat Sri Lanka at their own den recent in some
multinational tournament-both in T20 and ODI format-something which made them
absolutely confident to break the jinx this time around.
“I think playing with Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka will be difficult. But we
have done well when we played here last time and I hope we will continue the
momentum and do produce some good cricket for Bangladesh,” Bangladesh interim
captain Tamim Iqbal said in Colombo on Monday.
And winning the game against Sri Lanka will erase the pain of dismal
World Cup outing as per common belief.
“I thought we had a pretty decent World Cup. There were few games that
we should have won. If you see the points table, you will probably see we had
a very bad World Cup. ..We, the cricketers also felt that we could have done
more. But we played some good cricket. But we are in a stage in Bangladesh,
playing good cricket doesn’t matter for us anymore. Winning games is more
important than anything else so,” Tamim said.
“Yes, if you think about that way yes, we had a disappointing World Cup.
So I’m looking forward to the series. Just told you that this will be a very
important series. There are few important players who play in the first XI
are missing due to personal reasons. But I think that the squad who have are
very capable.”
Tamim Iqbal is chosen to lead the side after Mashrafe Bin Mortaza’s
injury-forced absence.
He said he is keen to lead the side exemplary as Bangladesh Cricket
Board (BCB) kept faith on him despite his poor outing in World Cup.
“This thing was given to me by the cricket board and I need to take that
as a challenge. I need to make sure my team responds me well. I need to lead
by example with my performances. So I am looking forward to it. It’s a new
challenge and I am sure I am going to enjoy it. Then I will see what happens
after the series,” he said.
“It was really good that we could come here two days before. Here the
weather is very much hot. So there is a point of adjustment. We have an
important practice match tomorrow [today]. We are trying to play those
players who will play in the first one-dayer. Coach and selectors will make
final decision about it. But till now we are thinking to give the opportunity
of playing in the warm-up match to those who will play the first match.”
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