Mash body language looks positive ahead of semis
Bangladesh play second semis Thursday in Birmingham
Syed Mohammed Pithu from Birmingham, UK
While Mashrafe Bin Mortazas body language in the press conference and informal discussion with the compatriot journalists was bit shaky ahead of the match against England and Australia, he looked determined before the crucial match against New Zealand.
Those who knows Mashrafe well, knows his body language means a lot. And it shows how pumped the team is. Even after the pre-match conference before the match against New Zealand, Mashrafe in an informal discussion guaranteed Bangladeshs semi-final provided they win against the Kiwis. If we can win against New Zealand, definitely well go to the semi-final, Mashrafe said even though a lot was depended on the outcome of the match between Australia and England.
Its not a matter at all. If we win, Australia will loss the match against England. Because if Bangladesh win the match, Australia will know that a defeat would leave them out from the tournament and its a huge pressure which they wont deal with. When anyone in the world know that Bangladesh will get the advantage, they will feel pressure,
And that exactly what happened in the match between Australia and England. Australia crumbled under pressure to loss the match and was left out with empty hands.
Suddenly Bangladesh found them in heavenly world. They registered their first victory against any Test nation in the ICC Champions Trophy when they beat New Zealand and eventually made it semi-final for the first time in any global tournament of ICC.
At the same time, a huge remuneration is waiting for them even though that will rely on lot of ifs and buts. If Pakistan loss their match to Sri Lanka in todays match, Bangladesh will through to the ICC 2019 World Cup directly. Since the match will be held in Cardiff, a lucky venue for Bangladesh, they can wait for a good result.
But if Pakistan win, they would have to wait. However if Pakistan loss any of the match in the rest of the tournament, that will give Bangladesh a favour in confirming the World Cup directly.
Both Bangladesh and Pakistan have no fixture ahead of the September 30 cut-off date for the World Cup qualification. So for both of them, specially for Pakistan, this tournament is crucial. Sri Lanka on the other hand are in advantageous position because they have eight matches at hands after the tournamentthree against Zimbabwe and five against India. So they could recover even if they loss their match to Pakistan in todays match.
West Indies are also in the race even though they are far behind than Bangladesh. But they have 13 matches at hands before the September 30 cut-off date. West Indies who are now playing against Afghanistan, will play against India, England and Ireland after the ICC Champions Trophy.
However when the luck is with Bangladesh and has already propelled them to the semi-final when they were about to exit the tournament, they could expect some more.
Meanwhile Bangladesh team reached Birmingham yesterday through bus and had a day off. The captain, senior players and coaches however sat to devise a plan for the semi-final where they are likely to meet India. If India really is the opponent for Bangladesh, that will remind them the bitter memory of the quarterfinal of the 2015 World Cup.
Bangladesh moved into the quarterfinal for the first time in any ICC global tournament in 2015 but some dubious decisions of umpires sparked a huge protest back in Bangladesh and social media went abuzz which almost ruined the relations with the neighbouring country. This situation could be back again if the two meets in the crucial game of the tournament at Birmingham on June 15.
