Follow UsBangladesh’s clash against Pakistan in Rawalpindi on February 27 (Thursday) will not be a consequential clash, considering both sides have already been knocked out of the 2025 Champions Trophy.
But both teams still have pride to play for, and would be looking to end the competition on a high.
Bangladesh came close against both India and New Zealand, but did not have the cutting edge to run through both the sides. They were, perhaps, about 30-40 runs short against both teams. But the side’s assistant coach Muhammad Salahudin believes that the Tigers can triumph over Pakistan if they post 300.
“I think our bowling department is doing really well, but particularly if you want to win matches, we have to do both sides,” Salahudin said.
“So far the bowlers are doing much better than the batting side. I think that we need both our top order and middle order to do well because one day our top order batted well, another day the middle order failed.
“So, we need to combine both sides. Then we can score 300 on that track. So, if you can score 300 on this [Rawalpindi] track, then our bowlers can defend against Pakistan.”
Bangladesh batting has admittedly been hot and cold, but there has been plenty of promise on the bowling, particularly the pace front, with the trio of Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman and young Nahid Rana testing the world-class batters across India and New Zealand.
Salahudin spoke highly of the pace stocks in the country and hoped that, some day, Bangladesh pacers will dominate world cricket.
“Actually, now in Bangladesh, we have plenty of fast bowlers who can actually perform at international level. But the best performers are actually in our squad. So, I feel that Taskin, Rana, Mustafiz, we have the best bowling attack at this moment. And they are learning, still they are learning, but hopefully one day they will dominate world cricket,” he said.
“And if you talk about Bangladeshi fast bowlers, we have a lot of fast bowlers coming up, youngsters. So, we are hopeful that nowadays actually our bowlers can dominate in this kind of flat track like they are dominating. That's a good sign for our bowlers. But still, we have a few things that we need to improve on. But we are hopeful that one day Bangladeshi fast bowlers can dominate world cricket.”