'Desire must come from within'

Taskin Ahmed loves to come up with some mission and vision whenever he gets the chance to share his views with reporters. Swing, reverse swing, slower, increase of pace are some of the charming terms the paceman has pointed out when talking about progress in his bowling, although he has hardly been able to translate his words to action on the field.

The 22-year-old fast bowler, whose batting average is in single digits in all cricket except the first-class format where he averages 10.7, revealed yet another new desire yesterday when he said he wants to become a bowling all-rounder. It was Taskin's turn yesterday to face the press following a six-wicket defeat to a depleted India in their opening Nidahas Trophy match on Thursday, and he also identified the need for 'extra work' and 'self-motivation' after spending nearly four years in international cricket, during which inspirational Bangladesh ODI skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza has repeatedly been advocating for these qualities whenever asked questions about the frustrating performance of youngsters.

TASKIN AHMED

"Honestly speaking, you have to have the will power. We are made to work very hard. Lower-order batsmen get batting practice but if you want to make progress you have to do extra work, which we have done sometimes, but we need more.

"The desire has to come from you. In world cricket the bowlers bat well and it is also my desire to become a bowling all-rounder in the future," hoped Taskin. The team will certainly be happy to see him contributing with the bat but what the team desperately needs from him is a disciplined bowling effort to make his comeback to the team meaningful.

It has been a difficult phase for Bangladesh, be it on the field or even when answering questions during press conferences as one question has been asked of the players repeatedly: "What went wrong and how can Bangladesh overcome the situation?"

Taskin's solution was very simple -- do well in batting and bowling.

"We made some mistakes in the last game, which we have to sort out. The wicket is different [from home] here, so our game plan will change accordingly. We have to put up a good total -- that's the main thing. Then we have to bowl well, but I am confident that we can come back into the competition. Still, there will be pressure as we lost the last two games against them. It is a good wicket, so chasing 170-180 isn't that hard. We have to bowl better, but I guess we should have scored more runs too. If we can bowl tighter in the next game, we will do better," said Taskin.

Bangladesh did not have a training session yesterday as the players spent some time in the hotel pool while Taskin came to the R Premadasa Stadium to speak to the media about today's game against Sri Lanka.

"We are still in the competition. We have to win at least two of the three remaining matches. It is a big challenge to play against the home side. Sri Lanka are in good shape. We have to execute well with bat and ball," added a hopeful Taskin.