Bangladesh coach Steve Rhodes upbeat of good display in World Cup after team’s maiden title win

Bangladesh will kick off their World Cup campaign on June 2 when they take on South Africa at the Oval.

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Bangladesh vs Ireland
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Bangladesh vs Ireland. (Photo Source: Twitter)

Bangladesh found winning trophies elusive over the years despite being one of the experienced sides in the cricketing circuit till last week. On May 17, the Asians won their maiden multilateral tournament in Ireland beating the West Indies in a rain-curtailed final. Bangladesh did not lose a single of their five matches played in the tournament and their head coach Steve Rhodes is extremely pleased with the Tigers’ performance, just days ahead of the ICC World Cup kicking off on May 30.

Ranked seventh in the ICC ODI rankings, Bangladesh has seen steady growth as a cricketing unit over the years and came very close to winning tournaments. Last year, they lost two finals — of a T20I tri-series and the Asia Cup — narrowly to India. But the team now has a core group of accomplished senior players — Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah — and they have played a key role behind the team’s rise.

Other players like Soumya Sarkar, 26, who scored the most runs (193) for Bangladesh in the tournament, and Mosaddek Hossain, who hit a match-winning fifty in the final, have also been among the Tigers’ key contributors. Bangladesh has reached the final of six tournaments over the last 10 years but failed to win any of them.

Young players are performing and that satisfies Rhodes

The 54-year-old Rhodes, a former England international, felt the absence of Shakib in the final because of a side injury and the performances of the younger players proved that Bangladesh is not a five-man army and have depth in their ranks.

“This was quite an amazing chase today because it was tough and there have been two or three guys who have played special innings. What it does today, if you think of Mosaddek for example, he is a guy now who is going to keep everybody on his toes. That’s the depth of the squad and he might not play and if he doesn’t then what a great position we have. Some other good players playing, what it does give is, it gives us the confidence that we can win some big games as well,” Rhodes was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

Bangladesh needed to score 210 in 24 overs after rain interrupted the game after the Windies had a flying start and the Asian side’s target was revised. They overhauled the target with more than an over to spare and losing just five wickets.

“That means Bangladesh is stronger within the squad and that’s what we want as we want more depth and if we get that depth then people will stop talking about the big five.”

Rhodes felt Bangladesh, who made the quarterfinals of the 2015 World Cup, needed to show more patience with cricketers like Sarkar whose form ahead of the tri-series was a major concern. But he hit three half-centuries in Dublin.

Bangladesh will kick off their World Cup campaign on June 2 when they take on South Africa at the Oval.

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