Riyad confident about Tigers' chances
Mahmudullah Riyad believes that Bangladesh are in a
position from which they can challenge the in-form Pakistan in the coming home series.
There was no shortage of confidence when Bangladesh vice-captain was talking to reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday about his team's chance against Pakistan, who are flying high following a powerful performance against Sri Lanka in their previous assignment, in which they won the Test and ODI series as well as the one-off T20 match.
Many have already termed the series against Pakistan as the toughest challenge for the Tigers regardless of the advantage of playing in their own conditions. The Tigers always bank on their spinners when playing at home, but it may not click against this Pakistan team who themselves have spinners of high quality in their side.
Riyad however was not ready to talk about his opponents' strengths or weaknesses, instead saying that the Tigers were focusing on their own plan.
“Without any doubt Pakistan is now in very good form and playing fantastic cricket but what I want to say is that we are not thinking about Pakistan, rather we are focusing on our own strengths and weaknesses,” said Riyad.
“I think we are taking good preparation for the series as we spent quality time in Chittagong during fitness and skill training. I hope you will see the reflection of it in the middle during the series,” he added saying that pedaling rickshaws during the practice in the port city was part fun and part fitness training.
The Bangladesh vice-captain also made it clear that Bangladesh have only one target, which is to win the series.
“Our main target is to win the series. I firmly believe that we will get a positive result from the series if we are able to show our skills properly. We have our own plan and if we can apply it rightly than the positive result will definitely come our way,” hoped Riyad.
He said that the inclusion of pace-bowling all-rounder Forhad Reza has strengthened the team as the number of all-rounders in the squad has been increased.
“It's nice that Forhad fulfilled the vacuum of the pace-bowling all-rounder. I'm really excited with the fact that we have a number of all-rounders in the team like Alok Kapali, Nasir Hossain, Shakib Al Hasan, Naeem Islam, besides myself,” said Riyad. The all-rounder is yet to play a match since being named vice-captain as he missed the last home series against the West Indies first due to fever and then because of an injured thumb, but Riyad was confident about his preparation for the coming series against Pakistan.
“I'm now fully fit and really looking forward to the series. I'm working hard and hopefully will get the result of that it in the series,” said a confident Riyad.
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