2017 ICC Champions Trophy – Things Will Be Hard For Us – Mashrafe Mortaza
Nov 2, 2023 at 3:52 PM
Since the 2015 World Cup, ODI cricket has been blessed, as the rapid rise of Bangladesh as an outfit is capable of challenging the best of sides has led to a great increase in the competitiveness of matches.
Earlier, teams could get away while taking on Bangladesh, but now, the side has improved to such a colossal extent, that it has qualified for the prestigious ICC Champions Trophy and shall be rubbing shoulders with the best of ODI teams.
Their form off late has been quite satisfactory as well, coming on the verge of a 1-1 series against Sri Lanka away from home, before finally defeating New Zealand in Ireland to reach their best ever spot in the ICC rankings. Mashrafe Mortaza has been the chief architect behind these successes, as he has built a team that reflects positivity and confidence when it steps out to take the field.
The Tigers, however, are placed in an extremely tough group, which comprises of world champions Australia, hosts England and also New Zealand. In England, Mortaza spoke about the same and admitted that things wouldn’t be easy for his side in any circumstance.
“This tournament is going to be hard for us,” Mortaza said. “The group we’ve got is very hard: Australia, England and New Zealand. It’s not going to be easy. And the conditions as well.” “We’re ranked no. 6. And that is a pleasure for us. We are very happy with that. But we want to move on from here. We want to go as far as we can.”
Before the main tournament flags off, Bangladesh will take on their neighbours India and Pakistan in two the warm-up games. Despite being ranked above Pakistan, Mortaza mentioned that his team wouldn’t take the 8th ranked team lightly.
“Pakistan is a very good side that can destroy any team. It has a big chance in the competition. But whenever we have played them, Pakistan has been the bigger side and in this sort of tournament, the bigger side is under pressure.”
“On our day, we can do anything,” he added. “And we have some quality players who can change the game. And we’ll have to play as a team as we’ve been doing so far and hopefully we’ll do something here.”There are expectations. But we just want to play the way we have played over the past two years and execute our skills well.”