Mashrafe doesn't think anything else than victory against Sri Lanka
image:- Ratan Gomez
CF Correspondent
Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe bin Murtaza said that they are not taking anything for granted against Sri Lanka as he believe both teams are placed in equal position in the ongoing World Cup.
While Bangladesh entered the global tournament on the back of some solid performance that is not case with Sri Lanka, who had witnessed some slide in form during the recent past.
While Bangladesh won their last ODI’s against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup but in total Sri Lanka are far ahead of them as they won 36 matches and lost seven games so far while Tigers failed to earn a single win against Sri Lanka in the global tournament despite facing them on three occasions.
nce used to beat Bangladesh with quite ease, Sri Lanka’s outright domination was over after the 2015 World Cup, when the Tigers’ cricketing renaissance kick-started in vigorous fashion. Since then both team played seven matches with the result locked at 3-3 while one match was rained-off. The last time the both teams met in Asia Cup in Dubai, Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka by 137 runs thanks to Mushfiqur Rahim’s career-best 144.
The Tigers met Sri Lanka thrice in World Cup and all lost duly without much resistance. If the recent record is taken into consideration, Bangladesh should set their record right against Sri Lanka also in cricket’s biggest carnival.
Sri Lanka however began this World Cup in worst fashion, having lost to New Zealand by 10 wickets after being all out for 136 and then they narrowly escaped an Afghanistan juggernaut, beating them by 34 runs thanks to D/L method. That they lost nine wickets for 57 runs against Afghans exposed their batting vulnerability. Their last match against Pakistan was washed out due to consistent rain.
“ I think there is no room for relaxation in World Cup. Every match is important. The first three opponents we faced, were already familiar with the condition where we played but we needed more time. After the first win,’’ said Mashrafe.
‘’I thought if we could win the next two games, it would be easier ahead in the tournament to qualify for the next round. But the fact is we could not give our best,’’ he said.
‘’Now we will face an Asian side. Both team will try their best to grab two points. So the one who will play better in the ground, will have more chances to win,’’ he concluded.
Bangladesh will be keen to get back into the groove again in the ICC Cricket World Cup when they take on their familiar foes Sri Lanka on the back of two consecutive losses respectively against New Zealand and England following their impressive win over South Africa in the opening game.
‘’We have to plan one by one in cricket. It is no different from other ODI matches. But another thing is that this is a World Cup match and people have eyes on every match. So we have to focus on every match. There is good and bad days in every game. I think we had two bad days in our last two matches. We could have better play against them. When we will play tomorrow we have to give full concentration in the ground. I hope luck will favor us tomorrow,’’ he said.
