Bangladesh will participate in the forthcoming World Cup in England with their strongest-ever team, hopes the former captain of the Tigers and current selector Habibul Bashar.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is all set to announce the preliminary squad for the World Cup. Before that, Habibul said they are taking the time to announce the team because they need to think about many things.
“We play a World Cup once in every four years. So it is a special occasion for us. At the same time, the World Cup squad is different from any other squad. Actually, every event is important, but the World Cup is special,” Habibul told the reporters on Tuesday at BCB headquarter.
“We are (selectors) thinking in many ways to select the team. We are going to play the World Cup with our strongest-ever team; if you look back to the previous World Cups. We have an experienced bunch of cricketers. We had never got this before,” Habibul further said.
The New Zealand series, which has ended in an unexpected way, was Bangladesh’s last full series before the World Cup. The Tigers disappointed in the series as they lost all of five matches that they have played. In the ODI series, they displayed poor performances. They replicated the same acts in the Test series as well.
“We went to play in New Zealand with pretty much of expectation. But we failed in an unwanted way. So we are disappointed with this. The injuries to several key players were harmful to us. At the same time, some of the players lost their rhythm. If we had played well in New Zealand, it would have helped us to go to the World Cup with a lot of confidence,” he also told.
But the former captain does not want to stay focused on this misfortune but he wants the team to move on. Habibul believes that one bad series did not make the team a bad team.
“We had nothing to worry about the series what we have done with. We will think about it but not too much. I don’t think our team transformed into a bad team just because of a poor series. This is the same team who has played well in the last one and two years. We have won some series, we have played in the final of last Asia Cup as well. We are taking the last series just as a poor one. It can happen to any team in the world,” Habibul added while talking to the reporters.
Habibul hinted that they are reluctant to add many new faces in the World Cup team. Instead of doing that, they are more comfortable with selecting the tasted players who have done well in past.
“The last series will not make much impact in the team selection for the World Cup. Mushfiqur Rahim was poor during the last series, but it does not mean that he will not be picked up for the biggest cricketing tournament. We believe the World Cup is not an ideal stage to examine the team combination. The pressure in the World Cup is more than any other series or tournament. So it is risky to depend on the young guns more in the World Cup. But still, we are observing the ongoing Premier League. If someone does something special, we might consider him,” Habibul said to the reporters.
Before the World Cup, Bangladesh will participate in a tri-series in Ireland where they will face West Indies alongside the hosts. The Tigers will play at least four ODIs in this series. This series will surely help the Tigers to adapt to the condition of England.
