Bashar calls for natural game
Second ODI today
Al Musabbir Sadi from Colombo
Rather than dwelling too much on leveling the series, Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar was more focused on ensuring that his side played its natural game against Sri Lanka in Friday's second one-day international of the three-match series.The game starts at 10am local and Bangladesh time (live television coverage begins 9:45am BST on TEN Sports and Bangladesh Television) at the Premadasa Stadium. The home side won the first ODI by 88 runs on Wednesday. The Tigers have made one change in the line-up from Wednesday's game. Veteran all-rounder Khaled Mahmud has been dropped in favour of paceman Nazmul Hossain. Tushar Imran was likely to be the super-sub. "We are not thinking about squaring the series. We just want to correct our mistakes and play our natural game," said Bashar on Thursday after morning's practice at the Nondescript Cricket Club ground. "We actually conceded the first match inside the first 15 overs when we lost too many wickets. Without the top order contributing, it is impossible to chase a big target even if you have capable batsmen up to number eight. "Our fielding was poor too. We dropped too many catches and we need to improve on that. We are a much better fielding side," said Bashar after coming out of an extended fielding session. "The wicket was good for batting yesterday. I have to blame the batsmen for being careless. But sometimes this happens when you have a long batting line. Everyone tends to think that there are people to take responsibility down the order." When asked about Mohammad Ashraful's carefree dismissal just after he had come into bat, Bashar said there was no reason to get panicky yet. The batting sensation defended the first ball he faced, disdainfully clobbered the second to the mid-wicket boundary and then holed out at mid on from the third. "Ashraful has been getting us runs by playing like this recently. I had a chat with him and advised him to settle down before playing strokes because wickets here are slower than the ones in England. "The way he played in England would not be possible here. He will have to adjust first." Bashar also brushed aside the verbal exchanges between Khaled Mashud and Muttiah Muralitharan on Wednesday. "Sledging is nothing new in cricket and we forget such things when we walk out of the field," said Bashar.
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