Bangladesh in confident mood: Ashraful
Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful believes the Tigers are preparing well for the ICC World T20.
"We have come here one week early had three games against New Zealand, Holland and Scotland and the boys have done well. We are confident and there are two tough games against Australia and Sri Lanka. So that's a nice build up to the main tournament," said Ashraful at the captains media briefing at Lord's on Sunday.
Ashraful was also looking forward to the first match of Group A against India ant Trent Bridge on June 6.
"In this form of the game any side can beat the other. We defeated the West Indies in the last World T20 in South Africa and progressed to the Super Eight. Our main goal is to repeat that and if we beat India, who are the world champions, in the first match then we will fancy our chances of doing well against the top sides and making the semi-finals even," Ashraful was quoted as saying by TigerCricket.com, the official website of the Bangladesh Cricket Board.
The captain was asked about the new kid on the block Rubel Hossain who has been too hot to handle for Holland and Scotland in warm-up matches.
"He has taken nine wickets in two matches and is bowling really well. He has an awkward action and has bit of extra pace," said Ashraful.
Ashraful also put his money on vice-captain Masrafee Bin Mortaza to come into his own against India despite a rather forgettable IPL campaign for Kolkata Knight Riders where he just got one game and went for many.
"It was only in the last over that he did badly. Otherwise I thought he was okay. But I know he'll be back. He is that type of a player. He always does well against India."
Mortaza has been the man of the match in both games Bangladesh have won against India.
Asked about the comment from the Ireland captain William Potterfield that they wanted to beat Bangladesh, Ashraful said the Tigers were the better side.
"I think if we play our best cricket then we should not have a problem against Ireland because we have more quality in the side."
The skipper attended the media briefing at Lord's and was due to stay back in London until later in the evening for the official dinner before he would leave for Nottinghamshire. The rest of the Bangladesh squad is already in Nottingham, their World T20 base, and had a training session at Lady Bay to prepare for Monday's warm-up against Australia at Trent Bridge.
The Tigers are expected to go in with three spinners and three pacers. Naeem Isam might make a return to the side after missing the last two practice matches with a sore shoulder. Shahadat Hossain Rajib is likely to be kept out again with Mortaza, Syed Rasel and Rubel forming the pace attack.
The game starts at 1:30pm local time (6:30pm Bangladesh Standard Time). ESPNStar Sports will telecast the match live in South Asia with coverage commencing at 6pm Bangladesh Time.
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