Sports desk: The excitement is palpable as Bangladesh play their first ever semifinal in any ICC Global tournament. And the opponent is India, which generated huge enthusiasm revolving around the match. As Bangladesh pondered it as summit clash, they want to enjoy every bit of the match, playing down the pressure of people’s utmost desire to see the team in the final.
“We want to enjoy the match since it’s our first ever semifinal match. There is huge excitement and enthusiasm revolving around the match,” Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza said. “But I don’t want the pressure to grip us. I will urge my players to consider it just another match of the bilateral series.”
There is no denying fact that there is massive hype regarding the match, specially after the 2015 World Cup when the two teams met in the quarterfinal and that was marred by some controversial umpiring decision. So the match is now considered as big match.
“I've been settling that question since World Cup 2015. But playing in the best eight and in the semifinal, obviously there is a big hype. You can say, but I'm not sure.
There is pressure also because of the past incidents. Even though Mashrafe doesn’t want the players to be gripped by the pressure, the match itself has a historical value. Bangladesh would seal the final in case of a victory against a mighty India side and that would be a day to remember.
“Everyone knows the value of the match. Just what I want that the players to play their natural game. We are now not the team to get down on the field by thinking that we would fight. We come here in an intention to win every match. And that’s what we are looking for in tomorrow’s match,” Mashrafe remarked.
“We know if we play our best game, we can beat any side of the world. So the target is to come up with our best performance. The players are charged up ahead of the big match.”
Bangladesh came up with different combination in the last three matches and chances are high that they could break the combination that won the crucial game against New Zealand to seal the semifinal spot.
According to Mashrafe the Edgsbaston ground would be a high scoring game that gave them the thought of pondering about the combination once again.
“We saw the pitch and it looked like a high scoring pitch. In the last game we went with four pacers. If the ground looks like high scoring today also, we need to think about it. However there is still not any decision regarding the combination. We may go with winning combination as well,” the ever-inspiring captain who is considered as the leader to the most of the Bangladesh people, opined.
The good thing for Mashrafe is that his crucial players Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah got back amongst runs along with Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim. But there is concern with the form of Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman and Mustafizur Rahman.
However Mashrafe was unfazed by the fact saying as a professional team they shouldn’t expect all to perform at the same time.
“Those who are in the form, need to carry on with it. You can’t expect every time all of the players would go all guns blazing. That’s not what a professional team thinks. More importantly everyone should understand their role. I think our players know what they need to do,” Mashrafe said.
Luck was with Bangladesh so far in the tournament but at the same time they seized that lifeline with both hands to orchestrate an extraordinary run-chase against New Zealand, so there is no denying the fact that it deserves its place in the semi-final.
Bangladesh has also made the finals of the Asia Cup in both the 50-over and T20 formats.
However the semi-final berth in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, where the top eight teams in the world are in attendance, must rank at the top of the list, according to Mashrafe.
