ZCZC
BSP-25
CRICKET-AFG-ZADRAN
Afghanistan confident of winning one-off Test against Bangladesh
CHATTOGRAM, Sept 7, 2019 (BSS)-Afghanistan opener Ibrahim Zadran, oozing
with confidence said that his side is upbeat to win the one-off Test against
Bangladesh, after already taking 374 runs lead.
It’s already a target that Bangladesh could never achieve successfully in
the fourth innings of a Test.
“We feel we are 70 percent hopeful of winning the game,” Zadran said after
the match on Saturday. Zadran led the side placing his side in dominating
position, hitting 87 that helped his side to finish on 237-8.
He believed that his spell with Afghanistan A team helped him prepare well
in the one-match Test series against Bangladesh.
Zadran scored highest 209 runs in the recently concluded four-day game that
includes an impressive average of 104.50 and more importantly helped them
earn a 1-0 win in the two-match.
”Having played in Bangladesh a month ago, I had information about the
conditions here. This is why I played well,” said Zadran. “We had a good
camp in Abu Dhabi, as well as the two-day match in Chattogram. So with good
preparation and the result from that game, we were hopeful of playing well,”
he added.
The 17-year old opener who made his debut with this match revealed that
their aim is to get 400 runs lead as he feels that it will be difficult for
the host to achieve it in the fourth innings.
“Our aim is to get a 400-plus lead. We are just 30-40 runs short, so it
will not be easy for Bangladesh to achieve it,” said Zadran.
“We will try to bat 10-15 more overs tomorrow, by which time we can give
them a 400-plus target. It won’t be easy for them,’ he said.
Zadran added that they are hopeful about bowling out the hosts.
“It was hard to play on the wicket today, compared to the previous two
days. It wasn’t easy, though I tried to stay in the wicket to play
responsibly,” said Zadran.
“They played only 64 overs in the first innings so we hope to get them out
again as well,” he said. He hoped that the weather will be nice to allow the
game even though there is a forecast of rain.
“We cannot say anything about the weather but definitely the conditions are
changing. It is raining sometimes, and it is cloudy at times,” he said.
BSS/SMP/ARS/1950 hrs