Tigers leave for Incheon today

Captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (L) and Shakib Al Hasan (C) show their newly-designed Asian Games cricket jersey as they stand alongside BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon at Mirpur yesterday. Photo: Star

Led by Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, the Bangladesh national cricket team will leave here for the Asian Games with hopes of winning the gold medal at the Twenty20 tournament. Both the captain and coach Chandika Hathurusingha have marked Sri Lanka, who they are likely to face in the semifinals, as their main threat in the competition.
The paceman, who will be leading the side after Mushfiqur Rahim was excused for his wedding, yesterday said that he hoped the tournament could help regain the players' confidence.
"The target is obviously to win the gold medal. It will be a good opportunity for our players to gain some confidence back and maybe come out of the bad patch," said Mashrafe.
He was also glad about Shakib Al Hasan's return -- from a two-and-a-half month disciplinary ban -- to international cricket.
"His return not only has made us happy, but the entire cricket fraternity was looking forward to it. We will miss Mushfiqur. But hopefully we can do well," said the 30-year-old.
Former curator of the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium Badiul Alam Khokon is now in charge of the wickets at the Yeonhui Cricket Ground, where the matches will take place.
Mashrafe, on a lighter note, was asked if that would give them an advantage in Incheon; to which he jokingly replied, "These things never happen in international cricket. But if he [Badiul] wants to give us the advantage… that depends on him."
The Tigers will begin the competition in the quarterfinals stage and will face the team that finishes second in Group B, which comprises Nepal, Kuwait and the Maldives. They are likely to face Sri Lanka in the next round.
Apart from the Tigers, the Lankans are the only other Test nation participating in the competition. Unlike the Tigers however, their line-up won't include a majority of their frontline players. They will be led by Lahiru Thirimanne and will also include national players Dinesh Chandimal, Upul Tharanga, Kithuruwan Vithanage and Jeewan Mendis.
Coach Hathurusingha reckoned that the match against Sri Lanka would be their main challenge.
"I think with India and Pakistan not here, our main threat on paper will be Sri Lanka. But we have not heard much about the other teams. There are good teams like Nepal and Afghanistan. It's a good chance for us to win a medal," he said.