Tigers wary of West Indies backlash
Photo - Cricfrenzy
|| CF Correspondent ||
Bangladesh head coach Steve Rhodes warned his side of not being complacent despite winning the Test and ODI series with quite ease as he insisted that West Indies still are capable of coming with all guns blazing in the three-match T20 International series, beginning on Monday (December 17).
Rhodes reminded that West Indies are the best side when it comes down T20 cricket as they are the incumbent champion in this format.
With some of the famous big hitters in the disposal, Rhodes believed the visitors are capable of turning the things around.
“T20 as Mash (Mashrafe Mortaza) said in his interview, is the best format for West Indies. They are the world champions and they will be very difficult to beat,” Rhodes said on Saturday at team hotel in Sylhet.
“They are hurting again, like all teams that you play against and if you win, you can expect some sort of backlash. I think the West Indies, with some new players who have arrived here, will be tough opposition. It’s the format that they know very well. We will give it our best shot. They always do, the boys. They keep surprising me because they come up with some great performances. Now we have got some continuity with regards to winning series, so wonderful news for Bangladesh.”
Bangladesh however can draw inspiration from the last bilateral T20 series in West Indies in which they beat West Indies by 2-1 in three-match series to stun the cricket experts around the world.
“Having said that, the way we beat them in the West Indies was a very special victory for us. It was a little bit unexpected but the boys did extremely well to win that last game in Florida,” Rhodes said.
Rhodes however said Shakib Al Hasan’s captaincy in this format will be crucial given the vast experience of him because of playing big domestic T20 tournament around world. Having said that, he thought they need to just replicate the performance of the last series to pull the heist once again.
“As I said before they are a good side. If we played like we did in those games in Florida, then we’ve got a good chance. Liton knock in the last game was a very special knock. But a lot of good things happened in the series, including Shakib Al Hasan’s captaincy, it was magnificent in that series. I think the one thing about Shakib is that he has played a lot of T20 all around the world, internationally and also as part of the franchises. So he is vastly experienced and he has been playing that format. As a coach I lean on the captain, they are quality people and cricketers.”
