West Indies beatable Ahsraful thinks
The West Indies have emerged as the opponents most expected to confirm the third scalp that would thrust Bangladesh into the quarterfinals of the ICC World Cup 2011 and former Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful found a lot of logic behind the belief.
The Tigers will take on West Indies on Friday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur in their third Group B match with a hope of brighten their chances of making the last eight.
“Not including any doubt West Indies is a very good team and they have some experienced players like Chris Gayle, (Ramnaresh) Sarwan and (Shivnarine) Chanderpaul and as well as a very good number three in Darren Bravo. But still I believe that we have a very good chance against them if you consider the conditions and our spin attack,” said Ashraful, who came to Mirpur yesterday along with a few other players for practice despite it being an optional day for the players.
The Tigers lost the opening game to favourites India by 87 runs but strongly came back against Ireland with a 27-run victory in their second group encounter and Ashraful said that they must ensure that all three departments click together in the third game.
“It's very much possible to beat West Indies if we can put up a good score on the board. We have a very good spin attack and it will not be easy for the West Indians to handle our spinners in these conditions if our batsmen click. I hope 250-plus runs will be a good score for us,” he said.
“You know our bowling was not good against India but we batted well while in the second game we had a poor batting show despite a good start but our bowlers did well to snatch the victory. We must ensure that all three departments click together in the third game against West Indies,” continued Ashraful.
The experienced campaigner singled out Gayle as the most dangerous player for the Tigers.
“In my opinion half the job will be done if we can dismiss Gayle early because he is a very dangerous batsman. And I believe we have the weapons in our hand to dismiss him early and it will also not be an easy task for him to bat well in our conditions especially against our spinners,” observed Ashraful.
Branding himself as a batting all-rounder, Ashraful said that he had regained his confidence after an impressive bowling performance against Ireland in the second match at Mirpur. Ashraful had featured in the team for the second game with an idea of making some quick runs during the batting Powerplay but he had got a good platform to prove himself as a batsman following a middle-order collapse. Ashraful however frustrated the capacity crowd by making only one run in six balls but apparently he got a second life following his impressive spin bowling show. Ashraful took two important wickets in the middle to make a rightful claim for selection for the third game.
“I'm now very much confident because I bowled well and also won the match. The things will be different if I failed as a bowler after disappointing batting. Hope as a batting all-rounder I can contribute for my team as a batsman,” said a confident sounding Ashraful.
