Bangladesh are reluctant to write off their chances in the World Cup, despite tasting a 48-run defeat to Australia in a World Cup match on Thursday that was a must-win game for them in a bid to stay alive in the semifinal race. The equation gets tougher as a consequence of the defeat. Bangladesh now would have to win their rest of the three matches in a row and wait for the outcome of the other matches, reports BSS.
Three wins even may not be enough but Mashrafe Mortaza’s Bangladesh are not throwing in the towel any time soon. The captain feels his side have the fight for a strong finish, starting with Monday’s match against Afghanistan on June 24 at Southampton. Then they will take on India at Birmingham on July 2 and their last game against Pakistan on July 5 at Lord’s.
“You never know what can happen, it’s still possible to get through,” he said. “All we can do is trying and win three matches, we have to play hard and let’s see.
“It’s going to be difficult for sure; even if we win we still have to look at what’s going on in other games. “But from our side, whatever happens, it’s very important that we finish those three matches well, taking it one game at a time.
“The top four teams are playing very well, if they’d lost one or two more matches it could have gone a different way, but there are a few matches to go yet.”
Australia compiled a mammoth 381-5 to throw Bangladesh out of the game halfway through the match, thanks to an epic 166 runs from David Warner.
Bangladesh fought hard and didn’t go down without any resistance. The Tigers also put up their ODI high 333-8 to loss the match finally by 48 runs with Mushfiqur Rahim hitting an unbeaten 102.
But it could have been so different for Mashrafe’s charges, with half-chances going begging including the opportunity to have Warner dismissed early on at backward point. That saw Bangladesh take just one wicket in the first 44 overs and while Soumya Sarkar led a late charge with the ball, it was all too late for the captain.
“It was a very good wicket, both teams wanted to have a bat,” he added. “We created a few chances that could have been taken, against big sides you have to take the 50-50s, it could have been a lot different. “Australia knew that if they don’t give wicket away, they can damage us. Not picking off wicket was the main thing for us.
“It’s a difficult wicket to bowl on against a player like David Warner but we could have taken a few chances and limited them to 300 or 320. “Anything around that would have been good but we’re costing 40 or 50 runs in most of the matches with the ball. “We only get wickets when the damage is done, and it’s hard for our batters when we’re asking them to chase big targets.”
