NEWS
Follow UsBangladesh head coach Russell Domingo is confident that his team will not be intimidated by the might of Australia ahead of the first T20I on Tuesday at the Shere Bangla Stadium. It will be Bangladesh's first bilateral T20I series against Australia, against whom they have lost all four encounters at the World Cups so far.
"Mitchell Starc and Hazlewood are quality bowlers and we have looked at some of their footage. But at the end of the day you will play the ball not the man. End of the day they are humans and will bowl some bad balls. We got to play with a clear mind and absolute clarity that we have got to put away the bad balls," Domingo said in a virtual press conference on Sunday.
"We know that Australia has a rich history of cricket but the history that has been created by the group of Australians are not here at the moment. For us to compete and win the series we have to be at the top of our game. As a coach I am confident that if we can do the basics really well, we can push Australia and beat them here. I don't think psychologically it's a massive issue," he added.
Domingo also expressed surprise with the way Cricket Australia (CA) had handled Mushfiqur Rahim's quarantine issue. Rahim opted out of the Zimbabwe series to be with his parents, as a result of which he couldn't be part of the mandatory 10-day quarantine before entering the player bio-bubble. Bangladesh Cricket Board requested CA to reduce the quarantine period but the latter refused to concede.
"I can't understand the stringent rules Australia placed on Mushfiqur's bubble. I think 10 days would have surely been enough. It's very disappointing the way they went about it," said Domingo.
He felt that the senior batsman's absence will offer chances to younger players to step up against a strong team like Australia.
"Trying to find out our best combination and playing against Australia will give us that opportunity. There are two ways to look at it. Trying to find out our best combination and keep developing some of the younger players. Secondly Bangladesh don't play Australia too often. So this is a big series for us and we are really determined to do well in it," said Domingo.
All the five T20Is from August 3-9 will be played the Shere Bangla Stadium in Dhaka.