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Shakib Al Hasan had said that his team is not here to win the tournament.© AFP
India will take on Bangladesh in a crunch T20 World Cup Group 2 game at the Adelaide Oval later on Wednesday. Both teams have played three games so far, winning two and losing one. A win for either team will solidify their chances of reaching the semi-finals. However, on the eve of the match, Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan had said that his team is not here to win the tournament, and if they end up beating India, it would indeed be an upset.
“Every match is important for us and we want to play with the same approach. We don’t want to focus on any single opposition. We just want to stick to our plans. We are not worried about the strike rates of our players in this World Cup. We are just focused on giving a complete team performance in all the departments of the game,” Shakib told reporters in a press conference.
Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram, however, wasn’t impressed with Shakib’s comments and suggested that a captain should always have faith in his team, especially when you are in a good position to advance to the semi-finals.
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“I was taken aback by his comments. As a skipper, when you have a chance of qualifying for the World Cup semi-finals, and that too against a strong team like India, you make certain statements that are subtle or confident. This shows that even before the game, Shakib, in the back of his mind, knows that they are not winning the game. But when you head into a big game, as a skipper, you’ve got to be positive. You should have the mindset that we can win this,” Akram said during a discussion on A Sports.
During the discussion, former Pakistan pacer Waqar Younis also echoed Akram’s statement, saying: “That’s a shocker, to be honest”
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