All-rounder Sakib al Hasan brushed aside the suggestion that Bangladesh are overconfident before facing Zimbabwe in the three-Test series, beginning at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Saturday. Though Bangladesh will begin the series as favourites, they will be hunted by the memories of their recent failure against Zimbabwe, who won two of their last three Tests against the Tigers.
The 130-run defeat in 2011 and 335-run thrashing in 2013 are still alive in the memories of Bangladeshi players as they came short of the expectation. Bangladesh were favourites on each occasions though they had to play the matches away from home.
Overconfidence was cited as one of the major reasons for Bangladesh to suffer the defeats, which remained most embarrassing among their all 70 Test defeats in fledging history.
Sakib, arguably the best Test cricketer ever to represent Bangladesh, said they have little chance of being overconfident this time given their record in 2014 when they failed to win a single match against top opponents in any format.
‘I think we are all in a positive frame of mind,’ he told reporters on Thursday. Last time when we lost, we also did not take the win for granted. I am not sure about the other players, but at least I did not.’
Sakib still reckons that Bangladesh will be the favourites to win the series, as they will play at home this time unlike the previous two occasions.
‘We had a different condition there [in Zimbabwe] during the past two series and we could not adapt to that,’ he said. That was really a problem. But we don’t expect a similar problem here.
‘I think our batting, spin and pace bowling are better than them. May be 60-40 in fielding; otherwise we are ahead in all other departments.’
‘The team is under pressure not doubt but we know that if we stick to our basic, if we do the right things, we have enough players who can win a game.
‘At this moment we are thinking nothing other than winning the Test match, but you never know situation might change, sometime a draw can be considered as a win,’ said Sakib.
-With New Age input
