Shakib unsure of Soumya and Imrul's inclusion in the playing XI
||Desk Report||
Bangladesh sought the services of Soumya Sarkar and Imrul Kayes midway through the Asia Cup, after the current openers failed to fill the shoes of an injured Tamim Iqbal.
Both the newly added opening batsmen had last played in an ODI back in October last year and it has become a matter of debate whether they are ready to make a comeback by correcting the flaws that had once put them out of the ODI setup.
The decision to call up two new players at the eleventh hour, despite choosing to not fill up the injury-forced vacancy, surprised their skipper Mashrafe Mortaza as well.
However, Shakib Al Hasan, the vice-captain of the team, feels they need to put their trust in someone, although he is still unsure of whether any of the two newly added members will find a place in the playing eleven.
He said: “It is not sure whether those who are coming will play or not. This [sudden call-up] is not usually the case. But any decisions can be made for the team's needs.
“We have to trust someone. I hope they can deliver according to our trust.”
Shakib reiterated what Mashrafe said earlier regarding the team’s must-win situation in order to stay alive in the tournament. He, too, thinks that Bangladesh will overcome this situation like they have done in the past.
“We’ve already faced these situations in the past,” he said. “I believe that we are better team than them, so we should perform that way. We are a better team than them in the rankings.
“Our goal is to do our own jobs properly. We can defeat any team in the world on our day, especially in ODIs.”
Bangladesh could not bat for 50 full overs in any of the three matches they have played in the competition so far. Shakib has also failed to put up a substantial innings with the bat although he has performed well in the bowling department.
“We haven’t batted well yet. In fact, only one [batsman] had a good innings against Sri Lankan, the rest didn’t do well. We haven’t play well in all three matches in terms of batting. We have a lot to improve in this regard,” said Shakib.
Bangladesh’s leg-spin worries seem to have reduced a little bit as they did not lose any wickets against the two wrist-spinners of India in the previous match. They will surely look to maintain that and try to score more runs by stitching good partnerships when they meet Afghanistan today (September 23).
