Bangladesh T20 and ODI skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza said that they want to play in the main event of the ICC World T20 2016 overcoming the hurdle of the qualifying round.
“We were not consistent in T20 but all the players in the squad have been brimmed with confidence after winning two recent matches against two big teams. Our target is to play better cricket in World T20,” said Mashrafe Bin Mortaza yesterday.
“You all know we have to first play in the qualifying round of the ICC World T20. Hopefully we would enter into the second phase by playing our better cricket,” Mashrafe told reporters at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport before flying for India to take part in World T20.
The qualifying round of the World T20 is scheduled to begin with the match of Zimbabwe and Hong Kong at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Jamtha in Nagpur on March 8.
Mashrafe and co entered into airport through No. 6 gate towards 7:45am. Finishing all the formality of the airport, they flew for New Delhi, India from Dhaka by a flight of Jet Airways at 10:30am.
Thereafter, Tigers will fly for Dharamasala, Himachal from New Delhi by a chartered flight hired by Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to play the qualifying round. The Tigers have already reached Dharmasala and will take part in a practice session today. Bangladesh have been clubbed in the Group-A with the Netherlands, Oman and Ireland in the qualifying round. Bangladesh could not play two warm-up matches against Zimbabwe and Scotland on March 2 and 5 as they were busy with their Asia Cup T20 schedule in Dhaka.
They will start their World T20 campaign against ICC associate member the Netherlands. The day-night affair will be held at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium (HPCAS), Dharamsala at BDT 3:30pm on March 9.
Tigers will next face-off another ICC associate member Ireland at the same venue, the match, which will be a night-affair to be kicked off at BDT 8:00pm.
Bangladesh will play their third and last qualifying round encounter against Oman at the HPCAS in Dharamsala to be played on March 13. The match will also be a night-affair to be started at 8:00pm.
This time a total of 10 teams will play in tournament’s main round, which will be kick started on March 15. Eight teams including Sri Lanka, Australia, India, Pakistan, England West Indies, South Africa and New Zealand will play directly in the main round, while each group champion from the qualifying round will join with them in the main round of the World T20.
If Bangladesh could qualify from the Group-A as champion then they will play in the main round, where they have to fight against the host India, Pakistan, Australia and New Zealand in the Group-2.
Bangladesh Squad:-
Masrafe Bin Mortaza (Captain), Shakib Al Hasan (Vice Captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarker, Mohammad Mithun, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shabbir Rahaman, Nasir Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman,
Al Amin Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Arafat Sunny, Abu Haider Rony and Nurul Hasan Sohan.