Tigers hungry to do well in every match
Sports Reporter
Bangladesh will not let loose the baton despite confirming the final with two matches at hands as they would like to keep the momentum going in the tri-nation one-day tournament.
The hosts so far won the first two matches with easecrushing Zimbabwe by eight wickets and Sri Lanka by record 163 runs, a performance that gave them immense confidence and more importantly increase their hunger to do well in each and every match.
I believe, every player in this squad has the same hunger for each and every match. Every international match brings an opportunity for players to score a hundred or get five wickets, said Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal.
All the players from this group are hungry to achieve something in the series. Its a very good sign. The remaining two matches before final are equally important for us. If you can score a hundred or take five wickets then it will be counted as well.
Bangladeshs next opponent is Zimbabwe who they take on today at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. Coming off a five-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka in the last match, Zimbabwe needs a victory in this match to stay them alive. In case of a defeat, they would pray and hope that Bangladesh would defeat Sri Lanka in their last group match.
However for Bangladesh, there is no equation. They regrouped well in the tournament following their calamitous South Africa tour and playing with more freedom, according to the players. There were shuffles in batting line up also in the post-Hathurusingha era with Shakib Al Hasan batting at No. 3 position while Mushfiqur Rahim batting at No. 4.
Shakib is considered at revelation at this position as Bangladesh looked stronger than the past with such batting line up. He scored 37 and 67 in the last two matches, indicating that the position suits him well.
When Shakib came to bat in number four or five, sometimes he had to face a situation like 40-3 or 200-3. So it was a different ball game. But batting at number three is very important. May be you have to face the second ball of the innings, or you may have to bat after 25 overs. I believe Shakib is a very smart cricketer. Whatever the situation is, he will figure it out. He has batted well in both innings. But this is very early to comment on that. I believe he is very much capable and he knows his game very well as he also played for 10-12 years, Tamim remarked.
Shakibs promotion at the higher position made the competition between him and Tamim also interesting. In terms of scoring Shakib is following Tamim closely in all three formats. While in the last match, Tamim completed 11,000 runs in the International cricket in all formats, Shakib reached the milestone of 10,000 runs.
Tamim reiterated Shakibs view, saying this type of competition is healthy for the team.
Its a good and healthy competition for the team. Its not only about Shakib, Mushfiq also had a fantastic 2017, scoring lot of runs. Its always god to have healthy competition among the team. It always benefits the team. Rubel has achieved 100 ODI wickets in seven years. If he targets to achieve 200 wickets within next three-four years then it will be good for the team.
But the opener himself is not pleased to his conversion rate as he is often missing the century. He has now nine ODI centuries under his belt but it could have been more.
Double figure in ODI centuries looks good. Its not a pressure actually. Sometimes I feel disappointed that I should have score more centuries. I have played over 170 games and I have scored 40 fifties. In that sense, I should have scored more centuries.
Tamim however couldnt disclose that whether Bangladesh would bring up any changes to the squad given then confirm the final but made it clear they want to win each and every match whatever the squad is.
