Bangladesh, who opened their campaign with their Group B match against India on Saturday, do not like to be labeled as minnows.
Bangla vice-captain Nafees says it is not the right term to use for them
PORT OF SPAIN: Bangladesh, who opened their campaign with their Group B match against India on Saturday, do not like to be labeled as minnows. “Whenever a team comes into the big arena, they struggle...it is normal, but Bangladesh is doing very good now and I never felt as a minnow,” Bangladesh vice-captain Shariar Nafees told the Trinidad Express in an interview ahead of the match. “It’s not a right term to use.”
Bangladesh made everybody sit up and take notice after they defeated New Zealand in a warm-up match March 6 in Barbados. Their performance has prompted experts to call Group B, also comprising Sri Lanka and Bermuda, as the ‘group of death’.
Stating that the team’s recent performance should help throw off the ‘minnow’ term, Nafees said, “We are winning a lot of games against good teams, and we are ready to prove that we are a force.”
“All the batsmen are in good form, the bowlers are taking wickets, the fielders are helping them. What I believe now is that we can prove that we can win games and prove to the world that when we win games...it is not ‘upset victories’.”
Nafees cited Sri Lanka as an example to prove his point.
“When they started playing Test cricket, they were struggling and in 1996 they won the World Cup. That’s how a team starts, and in life you start as a beginner and go to the advanced level. We believe we can do something like that. Winning is not that important, we want to improve our game day by day, so that we can compete,” he told the Express.
Bangladesh is being coached by Dave Whatmore, the man who coached Sri Lanka when they won the World Cup in 1996.
“We’ve got very good age-level programmes in Bangladesh,” the Bangladesh vice-captain said. “A lot of talented players on this team came up from those systems and we believe in a few years we’ll be a major force in world cricket.”
Indian captain Rahul Dravid also expressed his respect for his subcontinental neighbours. “We respect Bangladesh. We saw what they did against New Zealand. We’ve got to be switched on,” Dravid said at a press conference here Tuesday.
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