Bangladesh-Ireland warm-up today
The Bangladesh cricket team will play their second warm-up game against Ireland at the Moors Cricket Ground in Colombo today. The Tigers, who defeated Zimbabwe on Saturday, will leave for Kandy after today’s match, where they’ll face New Zealand on September 21.
The team’s scheduled net practice session at the Premadasa stadium got cancelled yesterday morning due to incessant rainfall. The players, however, were able to take part in an outdoor workout session later on.
All-rounder Ziaur Rahman, who played a vital role with the bat against Zimbabwe in the last warm-up game, said that he was looking forward to performing in his first major international tournament. Zia stated that the anxiety of playing in the big leagues hasn’t given him the jitters. “I have never been in awe of my surroundings. I enjoy my role in the team and I am confident about playing the game in my own style,” he said.
Zia initially entered the game as a pace bowler and later switched to the long handle after he went through a series of injuries. Today, his batting ability has given the Bangladeshi middle order a much-required boost. He justified his presence in the last game with a quickfire 26, an innings which included three sixes and helped the Tigers race to victory.
While he was selected in the inaugural World T20 in 2007, he had been chosen as a pace bowler and didn’t get a berth in the playing eleven that year. “I was selected as the third-choice seamer probably but it was tough to get into the side with Mashrafe (Mortaza), (Syed) Rasel and Farhad Reza playing. Now I see myself more as a batsman and I have been given another opportunity. I am really looking forward to this tournament as we have done quite well in the lead up to the World T20 and have played a lot of Twenty20 matches.”
The 25-year-old, who is widely known to be a T20 specialist due to his hard-hitting ability, believes that he is more than just a ‘basher’ of the ball. “As far as I am concerned my job is to play according to the state of the game and not going all out from the word go. I will obviously look for ways to score boundaries if the situation requires me to but sensible batting is always the key,” he said.
“I don’t consider myself to be a T20 specialist; I have opened the innings in first-class cricket a number of times. But I do like to play my strokes and I plan to use this approach in the tournament,” added Zia.
-With The Daily Star input
