Injury-hit Bangladesh eyes to spoil India’s party
An njury-struck Bangladesh team will be hoping to be third-time lucky in the Asia Cup final as they take on the overwhelming favorites to win the tournament, India, at Dubai on Friday.
Bangladesh will hope to shrug off stage-fright when the two sides lock horns for asserting their continental supremacy in the summit clash.
The passionate Tigers turned the tables with a gutsy performance despite losing key players to injury to beat Pakistan in the must-win game at Abu Dhabi and will be looking forward to replicating a similar feat again to end the tournament on a high.
“It is definitely possible. Our goal was to at least play in the Asia Cup final. Then, if we can play our best cricket in the champion-decider, then anything can happen,” Mushfiqur Rahim, Bangladesh’s major star in the tournament, told reporters ahead of the final.
“We have come so far despite all the difficulties, we have a very good chance. And defeating a team like India is not impossible because we've done them before.
“It is true that we couldn’t consistently play well with them. And we shouldn’t forget that they are one of the best two teams in ODIs. If we can stick to our basics and play properly, then it is possible to become the champions by defeating them,” he said.
On paper, India will remain the overwhelming favorites to win the tournament for a record seventh time and if they can do that without Virat Kohi it will be a huge sort of a statement but for the Tigers it will even bigger as they are missing two of their major stars – Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan.
Star batsman Tamim is already out with a fractured hand and Bangladesh will also have to be playing without their ace all-rounder Shakib in the lineup due to his injured finger.
Shakib is expected to undergo a surgery which will also force him out of the home-series against Zimbabwe starting on October 21.
According to Mushfiqur, Bangladesh’s inspirational skipper, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, played a huge part in motivating the under-strength Tigers. The wicketkeeper-batsman also credited the juniors, whose performance has been under scrutiny in recent past.
“Mashrafe [Bin Mortaza] bhai told us one thing and we talked about one thing: when at war, you don’t look back. So if you think ‘I am going to war and I will try to play it safe’, that won’t work. Either kill or be killed – one or the other. So that was a huge inspiration,” said Mushfiq.
“We did not think about the results, we thought about giving our best. If we can give our 100 percent, then we will win at the end of the day. If you look at performances, Mustafiz, Mehdi, Mithun – these juniors are the heroes of this match,” he added.
Going into a repeat of the last Asia Cup final, Mushfiqur is hopeful of producing a different result this time. He thinks that Bangladesh will have to take the maximum advantage of whatever mistake India makes in order to get an upper hand over their neighbors.
He said: “Yes, we’re confident. I think we could not play our best game yet, when it comes to all three departments. Our top-order haven’t done well yet. If our top-order do well against human beings, they will also make mistakes. If we can make a good score, we will be able to put them under pressure, or if we have to chase a big score then we can win if we start well. This is what we want to achieve in this tournament,” he added.
