Bangladesh still not a big team: Nasir
Sports Reporter
Standing on the brink of inflicting a whitewash on India for the first time, Bangladesh players dont want the complacency to occupy them in the landmark match today at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
Bangladesh had already taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series which gave them 10th straight victory at the home soil and given the form, they are now favourites to extend their winning streak and complete a whitewash, popularly known as Banglawash.
After completing a 3-0 clean sweep against Pakistan, another sweep of the series against India would also give Bangladesh a rare honour of whitewashing two mighty subcontinent giants in the space of just three months.
We are not thinking of the things like whitewash or Banglawash. Its just another match and well go to win it with all guns blazing like the other two matches, said Bangladesh all-rounder Nasir Hossain.
Winning 10 matches on the trot and beating the giants in dominating fashion are reflected preciously on Bangladeshs ICC ODI rankings as they are on the seventh spot, leapfrogging the team like West Indies and Pakistan. They have already confirmed their berth in the Champions Trophy in England 2017. Those outcomes have clearly proved that Bangladesh have now come of age and may contemplate them as a big team. However there is common belief that if Bangladesh could complete a whitewash against India, they should be termed
as giant.
But Nasir Hossain said that no players
of Bangladesh think them as a big team
as they know that the big challenge is coming ahead.
I dont want to say that we are big team at the moment. I think we are yet to be bracketed with the big teams because we are winning at our home soil at the moment. Thats the big factor, he said adding, We have to play well regularly and win the series at regular basis in the coming two or three years if we want to consider ourselves as the big team. If we can do so, we could claim us as giant.
Nasir said that they are expecting an Indian backlash in the dead rubber but they are confident of nullifying the threat playing their best cricket yet again.
We know they would come hard as the third match is their last chance to console them to some extent. But we are not thinking about how they prepare a game-plan to come hard rather we are thinking what we could do to keep up our winning streak, Nasir said.
Weve been playing as a unit for a long time and now we are reaping the rewards of our hard work. The most important fact is that the winning habit is growing up. We are determined to keep it up.
Mustafizur Rahman created a sensation by taking 11 wickets in his first two matches. His bowling indeed gave Bangladesh a facile victory in those two matches to seal the series with a match to spare. Mustafizurs record however outshined the effort of Nasir who gave a crucial breakthrough in vital moment of the second match.
As Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan threatened to take the match away, Nasir gave Bangladesh a sigh of relief taking out Kohili after he added 74 runs with Dhawan for the second wicket stand. After the dismissal of Kohli, India never could get back into the game.
Mashrafe Bhai (captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza) was inspirational for me. When he offered me bowling, he told me not to think myself as an occasional bowler. He told me to bowl like a regular bowler and I did so which paid the dividends, said Nasir who had to be dropped from the side during the series against Zimbabwe for his poor form. The drop however made him stronger as he got time to work with his bowling and batting.
Nasirs rise as a bowler reminded Shakib Al Hasans rise as an effective all-rounder as the latter was more than a batsman early in his career.
I dont know whether I could be a world best all-rounder like Shakib Al Hasan. I even have no target to be an effective all-rounder but I have the target to do everything in teams cause. I want to contribute in batting, bowling, fielding and in whatever way I can.
