Upbeat Bangladesh brace for T20 World Cup challenge

DHAKA -Bangladesh will enter into the upcoming Twenty20

World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman with a renewed
confidence, stemming from their three straight series victories including
Australia and New Zealand.

   Albeit series victory against Australia and New Zealand came at a designed
pitch but seven victories out of 10 matches between the two neighbouring
countries would make them ooze with confidence, the team management hopes.

   They believe that they have the best platform to end the win drought in
the T20 World Cup.

   The Tigers so far played 25 matches in the World Cup of this shortest
version of cricket and won just five-four of which came in the qualifying
round. They won only one match against the West Indies in the tournament
proper.

  Bangladesh cricket's first poster boy Mohammad Ashraful was the architect
of that six-wicket victory with a blitzkrieg 27 ball-61, that included seven
fours and three sixes. Aftab Ahmed also played his part with a brilliant 49
ball-62 not out. Since that landmark victory, a win continued to elude them
as they remain winless in the 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016 World Cup.

   This time the responsibility of the team is in the hands of Mahmudullah
Riyad. With a bunch of young cricketers and having a wealth of experience in
Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Soumya Sarkar, Mustafizur Rahmand and Liton
Das, Bangladesh looked like a team to beat any team in any kind of condition.
But still it will be a huge challenging matter, specially when their ability
to play well in the sporting wicket is utterly questionable.

   Bangladeshi team are starting its journey to Oman tonight with that
challenge. They will have a practice camp in Oman before they play two
official warm up matches against Sri Lanka and Ireland in UAE. Shakib and
Mustafizur, who are in the UAE to play in the IPL, will join the team on
October 9.

  Mahmudullah and co went to Oman two weeks ago to cope with the condition.
After a series of failures and tasting criticism regarding their T20
performance, captain Mahmudullah is hoping to do something good in the World
Cup this time around.

   The captain basically is confident because of being bolstered by several
allrounders and bowling might.

   "Our strength is the team's allrounders and the bowling department,"
Mahmudullah said.

  "Besides, our batting is also good and the balance of the team is great. We
have five or six allrounders who can contribute to both the bat and the ball.
Our fast bowlers are performing incredibly well at the moment. Spin is always
our strength. If they can put up their natural performance, hopefully we will
get some good results. '

   The recent performance of the team is good. They have won 9 out of 13
matches. There are also fond memories of beating Australia 4-1 and New
Zealand 3-2. Before beating those two teams of Down Under, Bangladesh also
won against Zimbabwe by 2-1 at away.

   Shakib Al Hasan, the biggest star of the team is confident of doing well
in the World Cup.

  "I think we stand a good chance in this World Cup. Our preparation has been
very good. The big reason for this is that we have won the last three series.
There is no alternative to victory. When a team wins, it has a winning
mentality, it gives another level of confidence. If you play very well and
lose a match, you will not have this confidence. We want to go to the World
Cup with this confidence."

   There are three players of Bangladesh-Shakib, Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah
who have played past six tournaments.

   Surely this time the responsibility of the trio is more than everyone
else. Again, there are two players-Shamim Patwari and Shoriful Islam who have
the experience of winning the World Cup, albeit it was Under-19 World Cup.
This is the first time they will play in the original World Cup.

  In Liton Das, Mustafiz, Bangladesh got some real talent but no one of them
is consistent enough. However, they can do wonders on their given day.

   Selector Abdur Razzak believes that Bangladesh will do well in the World
Cup.

  "We got our best team which is going to the World Cup. Hopefully there will
be a good result. But I won't say that I want to see the team in a certain
position. There is no end to good. I will rather say, I will be happy if the
team becomes champions. I want the Bangladesh team to play good cricket,"
Razzak said.

  Bangladesh will start their mission with the match against Scotland on
October 17. Then they will take on co-host Oman and Papua New Guinea on
October 19 and 21 respectively. If they overcome the qualifying round, they
will move to the UAE to play the Super 12s.

  Squad: Mahmudullah Riyad (Captain), Naim Sheikh, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das,
Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Shak
Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Taskin Ahmed,
Mohammad Saifuddin, Shamim Patwari. Stand by: Rubel Hossain, Aminul Islam Biplob.BSS