They say that a cat has nine lives. “For three he plays, for three he strays, and for the last three he stays.” Like it or not, Mohammad Ashraful’s cricketing stint has
followed a similar path. The number of times that the right-handed batsman has come back to the Bangladesh squad can perhaps be an achievement in itself.
Only time can tell if the decision to select Ashraful for the World Twenty20 will pay dividends. His recent performances, though, have shed a positive light. A fluent 38 of 25 balls in the warm-up game against Zimbabwe yesterday saw the batsman continue his decent form as an opener ever since the tour in Trinidad and Tobago.
“I have been opening the innings for a while now and have made some important contributions while batting with Tamim. I obviously would love to play a bigger innings but we have not batted on the best of Twenty20 wickets in recent times,” he said at the end of yesterday’s warm-up game.
“Hopefully the tracks for the main tournament games will be more batting-friendly and I will try to take this form into those games,” he added. He further stated that the team, despite the hot and sultry conditions, played with a lot of intensity and never relaxed throughout the match.
Appreciating the way the middle order batsmen played yesterday, he said, “This is an extremely balanced side. The way Ziaur Rahman and Mahmudullah batted despite the loss of three or four wickets is an example of the confidence in this side,” said Ashraful.
-With The Daily Star input
