Photo: BCB
Bangladesh team were on their way to Lahore yesterday, looking to shake off their defeat against Sri Lanka following a bad day with the bat at Kandy in their Asia Cup opener on Thursday.
The Tigers now face the prospect of a must-win match against Afghanistan on Sunday.
It turned out to be a good toss to lose for the Lankans as the Tigers struggled against the two-paced wicket in their first Asia Cup game at Pallekele.
“Actually, the wicket is always good here but today that was not the case. But these things are not in our hands and we have to play our game well. We expected sporting wicket in this kind of big tournament,” Nazmul Hossain Shanto, who scored the bulk of the team’s 164-run total, told reporters after the game.
The toss may not ultimately play a hand tomorrow at the Gaddafi Stadium, where the Tigers last played an ODI back in the 2008 Asia Cup. The Tigers’ last tour to Pakistan saw them lose the T20I series in Lahore and the lone Test in Rawalpindi in 2020.
The average score for the last three games played at the stadium in Lahore is over 300 with Pakistan successfully chasing down Australia’s 348 for eight with six wickets to spare in the second ODI in 2022.
Shanto felt that they “could have batted better” against Sri Lanka, given that Bangladesh bowlers made their presence felt, picking up five Lankan wickets in defense of a low total.
The onus will be on the batting unit against Afghanistan even though the toss is not a big indicator of having the upper hand in Lahore. Out of 64 ODIs, the split was pretty balanced with 32 games won by teams batting first while 30 were won by teams bowling first.
Despite the plan being to score 250-260 as Shanto had put it, the Tigers fell way short of that score at Kandy. Hence, it would be more important to bat smarter rather than to bat for just 300-plus scores.
Bangladesh will not only have to win but also hope that other results go their way from the group stage. Their opponents Afghanistan had been able to acclimatise more with the conditions, having done their preparation camp in Pakistan.
Given the way mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana and pacer Matheesha Pathirana dictated terms against Bangladesh in the first game, facing the likes of Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman of Afghanistan would not be an easy prospect. Pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi bagged eight wickets in the last ODI series Bangladesh played at home while Mujeeb and Rashid bagged five and four wickets each in the 2-1 series win.
“Both of our games are going to be tough. But focusing on the Bangladesh game first, we know that they’re going to be desperate to win, obviously, and it’s our job to match their intensity and also the desire to win,” Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott said yesterday at the press conference. “So, we all know that if we don’t come with that mindset, matching them, or better mentality and better skills, we’re going to be under pressure.”
The pressure will be felt more by the Tigers as they need to win their last group game to stay in the tournament. The defeat may have set the cat amongst the pigeons with talks of Liton Das’ return being discussed if Bangladesh make it into the Super Four despite the batter already being ruled out.
