NEW DELHI: The Bangladesh team stepped out into the haze of Delhi, the gloomy conditions at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Thursday afternoon summing up the mood in the Bangladesh camp.
Losing their star cricketer
Shakib al Hasan to a ban imposed by ICC, players going loggerheads with forces in their board and the lack of seasoned players in their ranks have had a negative impact. The Bangladeshi cricket caravan, which seemed to be cruising on a highway to become a force in world cricket no too long ago, has started to wobble.
Liton Das, one of the enigmas in Bangladesh, tried hard to drive home the point that the young bunch is ready to resurrect Bangladesh cricket. "Shakib is our best player and we will miss him. But we are looking forward to this series. Anything can happen in cricket. Shakib was injured previously as well and we still played on," Das told the media on Thursday.
"We are well prepared. We practised for a couple of days in Bangladesh too. Hopefully, we will adapt and perform well," he said.
The interaction soon moved on to the role of the youngsters. The selectors have taken a bold step by dropping experienced campaigners like
Sabbir Rahman and
Rubel Hossain. The team has long revolved around Shakib,
Mushfiqur Rahim,
Tamim Iqbal and
Mashrafe Mortaza. It's time the next generation stood up.
"Most of the players in our team are juniors and newcomers. The youngsters have been given a message that they need to perform and take more responsibility. We realize that it's not just the responsibility of the seniors to perform," Das claimed. "We are looking forward to this series. We are looking forward to the youngsters to play their natural game," he added.
Besides one ODI series in 2015 in which Bangladesh outplayed India, they have run India close but failed to close out the big matches. Why so? "What kind of question is this?" was Liton's defence before saying: "India have been lucky to win every close game. We have not been good enough to finish matches. We'll try to win those matches."
Virat Kohli has chosen to sit out of the series. He did the same when India played Bangladesh in the Asia Cup last year. Does it hurt that a player of his calibre picks out their team to take rest? "It's his personal call. India have good players besides him too. We are also missing our senior players," he shot back.