Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)-Bangladesh will look to bounce back from an embarrassing setback last week when they begin their Super-10 campaign in the World Twenty20 against reigning champions West Indies here on Tuesday, reports Dawn.com.
The hosts crashed to a two-wicket defeat against unheralded minnows Hong Kong in a first round match in Chittagong on Thursday, narrowly escaping an early exit from the tournament.
Bangladesh were dismissed for 108 in 16.3 overs after being sent in to bat, with five batsmen falling for zeroes in an inexplicable collapse.
Hong Kong, playing for the first time on the world stage, chased down the modest target with two balls to spare, recording their biggest win ever.
If Hong Kong had knocked off the runs in 13.1 overs, another first-timer Nepal would have sneaked through to the Super-10s instead of the hosts.
Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim accepted it would be tough to come back after the loss, but said the unpredictable Twenty20 format gave him hope, the online edition of the Pakistan-based newspaper added.
“It’s not going to be easy to get over what happened in the last game, but cricket is full of surprises,” Mushfiqur told a media conference on Monday.
“Any team can win in the shortened game, and so can we. But we will need to play to our full potential. What happened earlier will not count.”
Mushfiqur said the West Indies, the defending champions, also will be under pressure after their seven-wicket defeat to India on Sunday.
“We must take advantage of that,” he said. “It is a must-win game for them and they will feel the pressure. We know their strengths and weaknesses and if the wicket helps the spinners, we obviously have a plan.”
Indies coach Ottis Gibson, though, felt his team could play spin well.
“Spin in this format has not always been a problem for us,” Gibson said. “There may have only been some instances when we didn’t play spin well and last [Sunday] night the Indian spinners did bowl very well. I do believe that the Bangladesh spinners are different and so they’ll have a different approach.”
Gibson also did not agree to the perceived West Indies handicap of failing to run enough singles and aiming to only hit boundary shots.
“Some teams have players that can hit the ball in the stands easily. Some players hit the gaps easily. It works both ways. Based on what happened last night, people will start to make assumptions,” Gibson said. “The way I see it, India bowled well and we didn’t get a lot of singles, but we normally don’t get a lot of singles.”
Bangladesh will be without frontline seamer Rubel Hossain for the rest of the tournament after he dislocated a finger while fielding against Hong Kong.
He has been replaced by all-rounder Ziaur Rahman.
Teams:
BANGLADESH: Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque, Sabbir Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (captain), Nasir Hossain, Mohammad Mahmudullah, Farhad Reza, Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur Razzak, Al-Amin Hossain, Sohag Gazi, Ziaur Rahman, Mominul Haque, Shamsur Rahman.
WEST INDIES: Darren Sammy (captain), Chris Gayle, Dwayne Smith, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell, Denesh Ramdin, Sunil Narine, Samuel Badree, Krishmar Santokie, Ravi Rampaul, Sheldon Cottrell, Andre Fletcher, Johnson Charles.
Umpires: Richard Kettleborough and Nigel Llong (both England).
TV umpire: Richard Illingworth (England).
BBN/SSR/ANS-25Mar14-11:39 am (BST)
