Sports Desk

Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha believes his side stands on a good chance to move to the second round in the T20 World Cup, a thing that they haven’t done before in the tournament’s history.

His confidence stemmed from Bangladesh’s thrilling two-wicket win over Sri Lanka and a slow-paced New York pitch in which they will now take on mighty South Africa, BSS reports.

As all Bangladesh bowlers are master of using slow pitch properly, there was sense of belief that the Tigers can give the South Africa a nightmare in their second game tomorrow (Monday) at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium.

Sri Lanka was the only second higher ranked team whom Bangladesh beat in T20 World Cup since their convincing win against West Indies in the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2007.

Bangladesh could never beat South Africa in T20 format after playing eight matches but if they can break the jinx tomorrow, they will have a giant stride towards the Super 8 berth for the first time in their history.

“Every game is pressure. It doesn't mean that, that team is more pressurised than this team now. For us, it's another important game. We want to do something we haven't done before, just getting into the second round. And it's another big opportunity for us, tomorrow's game, to fulfil that dream that we came here for,” Hathurusingha said.

“We started with a win. That was an important game because these three teams South Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are fighting for those two places and of course, there's two other teams in Netherland and Nepal, you can't take it lightly but we take one game at a time. This is another opportunity for us to get two points and then secure our place in this second round.”

Bangladesh came into the tournament low on confidence after tasting a humiliating series defeat to associate nation USA and then against India in a practice game.

In all those matches, the top-order batting was a huge cause of concern. The concern is still there even after a victory against Sri Lanka, because the top-order failed again. According to Hathurusingha it’s the lack of confidence that haunted the Bangladeshi batters.

“Expecting better performance, for sure, because two, three games ago, we had a 100-run partnership. And to be honest, lately, we've been inconsistent. I think it's lack of confidence and it's a difficult format to take time and get into form or take your time because you have to get go from the start,” he said.

“Confidence plays a big part in T20 cricket. Some of the batters are lack of runs. Not that they have any technical problem or anything because they train well. They're looking good in training, but it's lack of confidence and lack of runs. So, the good thing is Litton spent time in the middle and scored runs according to the conditions. He batted really well, that was a positive. And of course, we are expecting more from them in the next few games.”