|| CF Correspondent  || 

Confident-looking Bangladesh have no room for complacency for their Asia Cup mission. The Tigers left Dhaka for the United Arab Emirates to take part in the continental event scheduled to begin on September 15.

“We are focusing to play good cricket during the group phase and after crossing the first hurdle we want to achieve the championship,” said Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim.

Bangladesh, placed in group B, will start their campaign by facing Sri Lanka on September 15 in Dubai, before taking on emerging Afghanistan in their second group match on September 20 in Abu Dhabi.

“Naturally Sri Lanka will have an edge over us as they are quite familiar with the condition due to playing over there,” said Mahmudullah Riyad. “But we are confident about our chances as we know their strength and weakness.”

Bangladesh have achieved remarkable improvement in the ODI format over the last few years. Although their performance in overseas is not up to the mark, recently they recorded an ODI series victory over West Indies in the Caribbean. It was their first away series win since 2009.

“Naturally the win against West Indies will help us to have some confidence under our belt. But we need to make sure that we tick all our boxes on the day and achieve our goal,” Mahmudullah said.

“Naturally all the team are quite capable of beating any side so we cannot take any of them lightly,” he mentioned referring to Afghanistan.

The series win in the Caribbean has certainly boosted Bangladesh’s confidence under their new head coach Steve Rhodes, the Englishman who further worked with the players regarding their strengths and weaknesses before the Asia Cup.