Bangladesh will be looking forward to overcome the shock of losing two of their premier bowlers — Taskin Ahmed and Arafat Sunny and take on Australians in the ICC World Twenty20 at the Chinnasswamy Stadium today. The unexpected departure of Taskin and Arafat for their suspected bowling action left the team into total disarray as they are disappointed and dejected with the entire affair.
Morale of the team look to be in shambles as the team management did not expect such a blow ahead of their match against Australia, who will be looking forward to keep their semi-final hope alive by clinching a win.
Both the team lost their respective opening match and a further loss can make them count heavily in their dream progressing to the semi-final.
Bangladesh skipper Mashrafee bin Murtaza reacted sharply against the decision taken by the ICC independent assessment committee and admitted that it had been a bolt in the blue.
‘We are pushed in such a time that it is hard to manage for us,’ Masharfee told reporters.
‘If we had got the two new comers two days back it would have been possible for them to adapt. But they joined the practice after arriving in the morning,’ he said.
Shuvagata Hom and Saqlain Sajib arrived in the morning as replacement and joined the practice straight away but chance of their taking part in the match looked slim.
According to team sources Nasir Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman will fill the void in the playing XI.
The severity of losing the duo was evident when Mashrafee told that they need to field Mustafiz irrespective of his injury status.
Mustafiz did not feature in the tournament so far as he was recovering from a side strain and was expected to feature against Australia but with the prevailing situation Tigers need to field him at any cost.
‘Even if he is 20 percent fit he needs to play because we don’t have any other options,’ said a helpless looking Mashrafee.
While Tigers are in dire straits, Australians also have to settle down quickly if they want to put an impact in this edition of the ICC World Twenty20.
After their opening game’s loss to New Zealand, Australian skipper Steven Smith laid his emphasis against Bangladesh and asked his team-mates to make an immediate turn around.
Australians are considered not to be a deadly force in the T-20 format considering their dominance in Test and one-day internationals.
‘Yeah, we haven’t played as well as we would have liked in this format of the game,’ said Smith.
‘I still think we have the right personnel here to get the job done. We’ve got a strong squad of 15 players.
‘We have a lot of power in the sheds. For us it’s about making sure we improve in the middle overs and keep the wickets in the shed so we can use that power to have some success over here,’ said the Australian skipper.
-With New Age input
