DHAKA: After losing to India in the Asia Cup opener, Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza wants to make a comeback against United Arab Emirates in the second match for both teams, to be played at Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur on Friday (February 26).
The 20-over match is scheduled to begin at 7:30 Bangladesh time.
Like Bangladesh, only qualifier United Arab Emirates lose to Sri Lanka by 14 runs in the second match of the event on Thursday.
Against Ashish Nehra and Jasprit Bumrah, who sent down the first six overs, Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Mithun, Sabbir Rahman and Imrul Kayes combined to take the total to 31 for 2. Mashrafe didn’t want to point to specific areas of concern, but did say that he expects the fielders to raise their game, reports the icc-cricket.com
Against India, Shakib Al Hasan’s dropped catch off Rohit Sharma proved costly, but there were other lapses on the field too, that allowed India to raise a total of 166 for 6.
“At this level, we can’t let the ball through at the boundary. We need to improve that for sure,” said Mortaza when asked for his thoughts on the must-win UAE game.
“The positive was that we kept the Indian batting quiet till the 15th over. As long we don’t repeat the mistakes and do the good things again, we should be competitive. We have scored 160-165 in the past, no issues there. There were plans, the execution went wrong.”
The execution by the combine of Taskin Ahmed, Al-Amin Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman and Mortaza himself didn’t go too badly for the best part of the Indian innings, and Bangladesh would certainly be hoping that happens again.
The class of Lasith Malinga and the guile of Nuwan Kulasekara was more than enough to subdue the team on Thursday, as Sri Lanka scripted a 15-run win, but UAE did show the stomach for a fight. Amjad Javed, the captain, put in a wonderful three-wicket spell of medium-fast bowling and Swapnil Patil played a valiant innings to take the match close.
One of the things, UAE will have to handle is a packed stadium on the weekly holiday – Friday – all 24,000-odd playing the role of 12th man for Bangladesh.
It will all come down to the spirit the UAE boys get on to the field with, in a match neither team can afford to lose keeping their future in the tournament in mind.
Bangladesh Squad
Mashrafe Mortaza*, Abu Hider, Al-Amin Hossain, Arafat Sunny, Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim†, Mustafizur Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Taskin Ahmed
United Arab Emirates Squad
Amjad Javed*, Ahmed Raza, Fahad Tariq, Farhan Ahmed, Mohammad Naveed, Mohammad Shahzad, Muhammad Kaleem, Muhammad Usman, SP Patil†, Qadeer Ahmed, Rohan Mustafa, Saqlain Haider, Shaiman Anwar, Usman Mushtaq, Zaheer Maqsood
BDST: 1440 HRS, FEB 26, 2016
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