Bangladesh have already made history in the Asia Cup. But the heroic Tigers will not be sitting on the laurels; they will want something more tangible, more lasting. Mushfiqur Rahim’s men have one bigger challenge left — a meeting with cricketing behemoths Pakistan in the final of the biggest regional competition which will be held at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur today.
If someone looks at broader perspective then the win or loss will not be a major issue rather the expectation is that Bangladesh has to turn the corner. The question is whether Bangladesh can show the same sort of maturity and intensity in their performance in the final as they did in their matches against Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka in the league phase.
Bangladesh’s cricket will take a step forward if the Tigers can win the final, which in no way is dreaming the impossible; clinch the title as well as put an end to their thirteen-year drought against Pakistan. On the other hand, much will not change even if they lose the match, if they can play some good cricket and continue with the consistency that is rare for them.
The positive thing was that the boys were not worn out by the celebration after victory against Sri Lanka, rather one would be encouraged and hopeful hearing the words of Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim, who made it clear that they were looking forward to putting up their consistent improvement in world cricket. It’s not only the captain rather the belief of everybody that the Tigers don’t think that the mission is complete yet for them after reaching the final. They were focusing on the bigger achievement.
“The celebration was very good. After winning back to back matches like the ones we did was a moment to celebrate. But everyone knows that more than the celebration, we have a huge game ahead of us, the final, and we are all prepared. We hope that we will win that match and then hopefully we will celebrate again,” said a confident Mushfiqur.
“Before the tournament we said in the press conference that we have not yet reached the level where we can beat teams like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka consistently. But the target was to consistently improve in every match and fight. If you play consistently well against big teams then you will be able to win matches regularly. That is what is happening and now the self-belief is very good,” continued the little man.
After the way they played in the league matches, Bangladesh deserved to be in the final but Mushfiqur believe that his boys will justify it also in the final against the formidable Pakistan.
“When you reach the final of a tournament by winning against the top teams and play pretty consistently, I don’t think it’s an upset. It was a well-planned and well-executed process. The boys are really very confident to go about the final match. As you said we have nothing to lose and we have everything to gain. Hopefully we will give our hundred per cent and win the match,” said Mushfiqur.
The secret of the success in this tournament so far is simple — not just one or two are performing which used to happen in the past — the team is playing as a unit where everybody do their duty and another thing is that the Tigers overcame mental barriers by winning two close matches.
The confidence of the whole team lifts when they win matches like that and Tigers just need to carry on these things in the final.
-With The Daily Star input
