Bangladesh ODI captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza said they are only focusing to win against Sri Lanka and want to play the same way that they did against Zimbabwe.
He was speaking at a pre match press conference held on Thursday at the conference room of Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket stadium at Mirpur here.
Bangladesh will play their second match of the tournament scheduled to be held tomorrow (Friday).
Mashrafe said they are self confident but there is no scope to fell not self-complacency as Sri Lanka is very strong side and there is no scope to take them lightly.
The speedster said Sri Lanka has quality batsman kike Kusal Perera who have century against Bangladesh. Experienced Upal Tharanga have ability to play a big innings which he played in the past and most important they have talented and effective all-rounder like Thisara Perera and Angelo Mathews.
Kusal scored his first ODI century against Bangladesh backed in February 22, 2014 in Dhaka while Tharanga also scored his maiden ODI century against the Tigers backed in September 2005 in Colombo. After the first century he has two more centuries against Bangladesh.
Hathurusingha’s tenure was the most successful one in Bangladesh’s cricket history. Even the Sri Lankan himself pointed it out ahead of the series that Bangladesh are competitive and have not lost a home series in two and half years.
Last time when Bangladesh played against Sri Lanka, Hathurusingha and Thilan Samaraweera were Bangladesh’ side. The Tigers drew all three Test, ODI and T20 series 1-1 during their tour of Sri Lanka last year.
When asked concerning Tigers’ former head coach Chandika Hathrusingha’s matter make any impact on the team or not, Mashrafe said when Hathurusingha left they forgot all of his plans and there is no opportunity to think about him anymore because they are trying to adjust to the ideas of our new coaches.
The Narail express said they are now only concentrating on game and aim to win against Zimbabwe.
The Tigers’ captain said in international cricket it’s natural for a coach to face off against their former players and one should have to come out from this.
The Narail express said they want to play the same way they did against Zimbabwe in the first match and everyone is focused on that regarding the positive mindset that the team is harbouring.
