Bangladesh cricket team looked calm and composed as they completed their final training session on Tuesday before taking Pakistan in the final one-day international today seeking a 3-0 clean sweep. The odds are with the Tigers now after they won the first two matches in comprehensive manner against a side that until this series suffered only one loss to them and that was way back in 1999.
Instead of trying to go into the training with a clinical approach like taking the nets just after arrival, shortly after a running, the Tigers took it easy.
Their happy-go-lucky approach looked to have instilled the much-needed breathing space into the dressing room that kept the tensions at bay of playing international cricket.
Given the ease and calmness Tamim Iqbal took the goal post when two teams, divided among the national players to play some football at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, it gave enough indication of his new found composure.
Tamim, who scored two back-to-back centuries to guide Bangladesh into clinching the series, looked equally vibrant when he managed to stop close friend Sakib al Hasan from scoring a goal.
The body language of the players has always been positive in the series but the way they handled themselves in the training, it appeared more than that. They looked eventually a team with immense self belief to make a strong statement in international cricket.
It was opposite to their Pakistan counterparts who took the field with all their guns that included Shahid Afridi and Ahmed Shehzad, the two players set to feature only in lone Twenty20 International.
Their enthusiastic activities evidenced that the Pakistan team management want to regroup this young and inexperienced side with the help of this experienced campaigners.
The difference in approach of the two sides are said to be the defining factor in the ODI series that left Tigers a match away from writing history.
Skipper Mashrafee bin Murtaza, a symbol of undying commitment and passion, left no stone unturned to prepare himself for the final game as he bowled several overs at the center wicket.
Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mahmudullah, and Mushfiqur Rahim, the batting pillars of the Tigers had all spent a good amount of time in the nets along with all-rounders Sakib al Hasan- Nasir Hossain and Sabbir Rahman.
While all the bowlers were concentrating with them, Mashrafee kept on bowling relentlessly giving an example that every member of the squad are well aware of their own responsibility.
Bangladesh assistant coach Ruwan Kalpage said that he is not surprised with the success of the Tigers against Pakistan as he had full faith on the approach of the new-look Bangladesh squad.
‘I am not surprised,’ Kalpage told reporters. ‘Everyone knows there are talented cricketers in Bangladesh and it’s just that we are playing as a team during the last three to four months,’ said Kalpage.
‘Now one player comes up when someone else fails and that is the main thing as a team,’ he said.
-With New Age input
