Bangladesh’s ace all-rounder Sakib al Hasan urged his team-mates to look forward with a positive mindset getting rid of all mental anomalies when they wtake on hosts India in their third ICC World Twenty20 match today. Bangladesh team has been going through a traumatic time recently on and off the field as their two key bowlers Taskin Ahmed and Arafat Sunny were banned by ICC that had a clear effect on their game against Australia on Monday.
The Tigers looked out of focus at times during in their three-wicket loss to Australia but Sakib in his pre-match press conference at Bangalore on Tuesday said they must remain positive.
‘We must keep focus on tomorrow’s [today] game,’ said the vice-captain of Bangladesh. ‘It is obviously disappointing to lose two key players. But we have nothing to do. We must look forward,’ he said.
Sakib also thought that although Taskin is going through a difficult time but he will come back strongly.
‘He had been bowling well for us over the last six months or more. He is one of our main players. Whatever happened does not mean it is all over for him by any means.
‘Perhaps he will be unable to play our next few games. I still believe our current squad can do well in tomorrow [today]’s match.’
Bangladesh lost their first match against Pakistan before they were beaten by Australia in their next match but Sakib thought they did not commit many mistakes and he looks forward to get a good result by correcting the little mistakes they made in Australia match.
‘It is not that we made many mistakes and made some trivial mistakes. If we can fix them we will become a good side on the field. There is not much worry.
‘If we could make 170-180 it could be different. I think our overall bowling was not that bad.
‘I think the last six over in the batting is important, we have to improve that.
‘We did not have a good day in the field that we enjoyed in most of the recent matches, but I do not think it is a big concern.’
Sakin said that he believes the biggest achievement for Bangladesh over the last couple of season is their confidence and he reckoned they will show it on field again.
‘Our mindset has been changed over the last few years. Now we know how to win a match. We have some outstanding young players who are capable of making us victorious.
‘We played well in our home ground, now we have the confidence that we can do well abroad,’ he said.
During the Australia match Tigers’ looked shaky and even their inspirational skipper Mashrafee bin Murtaza very unduly looked out of sorts and some of his decisions were questioned from many quarters.
But Mashrafee’s deputy did not want to see it as a big issue and thought it is part of the game.
‘We all discuss but the final decision belongs to captain. Sometimes he gets successful and some other times he fails. This is the rule of cricket.
‘Everyone will hail when once he gets success and criticise when he gets failure. It’s part of the game. We do not think about these.
‘We are only concerned about the success of the team. We try to take decisions accordingly.’
-With New Age input