Mirpur: All roads here lead to the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium with hosts Bangladesh playing their first Super-10 match of the World Twenty20 against defending champions West Indies on Tuesday.
The massive pressure of expectations notwithstanding, especially in the light of Bangladesh’s loss to Hong Kong in the qualifying stage of the tournament, Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim sought to keep his replies as matter-of-fact as possible. “We didn’t play well in the last game against Hong Kong, but it’s a T20 format and anything can happen. We have won two of our last four meetings. Though it was a long time back, we are looking forward to the challenge.”
Rahim was also wary about giving false hope to home fans who are crazy about the game. “It will be a difficult match, but we have got a couple of matchwinners in our side. If all goes well and we play to our potential, we can win.”
In 2011, when Bangladesh lost to the West Indies, their disappointed fans had stoned the team bus. Asked about the 2011 incident, Rahim said: “Yes 2011 memories are there, but we have played them in two more series after that and even won a few games. Those memories are there too. We must focus on playing well. They also didn’t have a good game last night. They will be under pressure too as it’s a must-win match for them. If we apply ourself well, we can win. Regarding the mood in our camp, it’s not easy to bounce back from the kind of defeat we suffered in our last game. But as Hong Kong shows, anything can happen in this format. We didn’t play to our potential.”
Rahim is banking on his spinners to play a big role against the West Indies. “We will play to our strength. If the wicket helps spinners, obviously we will go in with a plan. You have to bowl well irrespective of whether the wicket aids spin or not as they can’t get rolled over for 120 if you just bowl anyhow.”
West Indies skipper Darren Sammy, too, was candid in admitting that his team were cagey about their spinners. “Whenever we have played them, they have played a lot of spinners against us. We have got to bat better. They are at home, they have been playing well. I know this time the crowd won’t be cheering for West Indies. They are a difficult side to play against, especially at home. We will be aware of that. We still back ourselves. Once go we out and play to our full potential, we are going to be a destructive force.”
West Indies team coach Ottis Gibson called on his team to focus on the task at hand. “I guess in a tournament like this, anything can happen. We have seen some strange things so far like Ireland scoring 190 and still losing to the Netherlands.
“Our focus is one step, one game, one opposition at a time. We know that they will come with spin and we just have to play spin better than we did. If it’s hitting it for a six, then so be it. We have to be more aware of the situation. We have a lot of batsmen who are in good form and we are not going to let one defeat [against India] dent our confidence,” he added.
