Bangladesh Under -19 skipper Anamul Haque urged his team members to remain focused instead of getting overawed as the ICC U-19 World Cup, the biggest cricket tournament of age-level, curtain will be raised in Australia today.
Among the four matches scheduled on the opening day, Bangladesh will begin their campaign against Asian rivals Sri Lanka while three-time champion Australia will launch their title defence against 1998 winners England.
The other matches will be played between two-time former champions Pakistan and their neighbor Afghanistan while Zimbabwe will face Papua New Guinea.
The junior Tigers are placed alongside South Africa, Sri Lanka and Namibia in Group-D, considered to be the toughest among the four groups, in the competition that will run till August 26.
Both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka would be keen to start on a winning note as two top sides from each group will qualify for the Super League (Cup) stage while the bottom two sides from each group will compete in the Plate Championship.
‘The objective is to settle down quickly. I am putting emphasis on our focus as many of our boys haven’t toured that much and I have seen that some may actually get overawed by the experience,’ said Anamul ahead of their match against Sri Lanka.
The wicketkeeper-batsman added that consistency was the main issue for them and to progress in the latter stages of the tournament they need to have that.
‘We are also looking for consistency which is still not there in our performance. We have been making the odd contribution, but not doing it as a group on a regular basis.
‘I am sure everyone has set personal goals, but we all have the common desire of seeing ourselves in the final,’ said Anamul.
Three-time plate champions, Bangladesh participated in the tournament seven times and had only been able to play the Super League stage twice (2006 and 2008) while they had to remain content playing the plate stage in the remaining five occasions.
-With New Age input
