'Mental preparation the deciding factor'
There are probably very few stones that Bangladesh have left unturned ahead of the Champions Trophy. Having played the early rounds of the Dhaka Premier League, tonight they will leave for Sussex to take part in a ten-day conditioning camp. From there they will travel to Ireland to play a tri-nation series including New Zealand. Then they will play Champions Trophy warm-up games against heavyweights India and Pakistan.
Despite a nearly foolproof preparatory schedule, Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza kept his focus on just one aspect during the pre-tour press conference in Mirpur yesterday: the mental preparation.
"Honestly speaking, the training that we get in the next 10 to 20 days won't make us win the Champions Trophy. What's more important is to be mentally ready for this competition. This is a big tournament and there will be big teams. The conditions are different from home so it will be twice as difficult for us.
"Realistically, it is going to be a very difficult tournament for us because we are in a very tough group. We did beat England in similar conditions in Australia, we beat Australia in Cardiff [in 2005] and anything is possible. But it all depends on how prepared we are mentally. I don't think the camp will make much of a difference if we are not mentally ready," explained Mashrafe.
And the key to being mentally ready, according to the captain, is to spend the next couple of months like a family. Prior to the 2015 World Cup, Bangladesh were in a worse position, having lost most of their games except for a lone series against Zimbabwe. However, the captain believes that the team had confidence because they stuck together.
"In Australia [during the 2015 World Cup] we managed to do well because we were in a good position throughout. We beat Afghanistan and then Scotland and we just needed to win one more game.
"Early wins can help overcome the fatigue that players get when they go on long tours. Your mood is always good when you win. The other thing is that we need to stay together as a family. Not everyone is going to have a good time, but we need to stay together," said Mashrafe.
With all the talk about the Champions Trophy, the tri-nation series in Ireland has not received as much coverage. In fact, one reporter actually asked the captain if they were looking at that series as a mere warm-up ahead of the Champions Trophy.
To that Mashrafe replied: "We are going there to win. There are plenty of calculations involved here. Only if we do well in Ireland can we do well in the Champions Trophy. If we do badly in Ireland there will be a lot more pressure on us [in the Champions Trophy]."
If Bangladesh do lose to Ireland in the tri-nation series, there is a chance that they may slip below Pakistan in the ODI rankings.
While Bangladesh have fared well in Test cricket in the past year, beating England and Sri Lanka, their one-day record has not been as impressive as it was in 2015. They lost an ODI against Afghanistan and were also beaten in a home series by England. They were then whitewashed in New Zealand.
Mashrafe admitted that the defeats against Afghanistan and England at home hurt, but believed that the team was doing well as far as away games are concerned.
"We entered a new phase from the New Zealand series. We entered the away zone. I feel that that graph is fine. If you look at other national teams, they lose most of their away games. But I believe that our team will progress faster than the others. We can adjust to away conditions faster than the others," said Mashrafe.