Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha insisted that he and his team were not losing their sleep about playing the semifinal and are happy to emerge out of a tough group to progress to the Super 8s. The experienced coach also urged his charges to play with freedom here on as he feels anything they will achieve in this second stage of the T20 World Cup was a bonus for them.
Hathurusingha was determined not to saddle his team with expections with the burden of expectations as they prepare to take on Australia at Antigua on June 21. “When we came into the tournament, our first target was to get into this Super 8. So, I think we achieved that with great… what can I say, our bowlers kept us in the game? So, we played the conditions really well, used the conditions in our favour,” Hathurusingha told reporters on Wednesday (June 20).
“So going forward for us, being here, we’re very happy to be here. And then anything from here for us is bonus. So, we play with a lot of freedom. And we are going to challenge all three teams the best we can,” he said.
Hathurusingha, however, was quick to clarify that playing with freedom didn’t mean players deviating from their roles in the team. “This game, why we start playing this game? To enjoy. So that fact of enjoyment, we don’t take it away from the players,” he said.
“How big is the game? That doesn’t mean that they have free license to go and do whatever they want. They have a particular role to play in the team and to do that role is yes, they have freedom and then enjoyment always, whether we play for your country or club cricket or the park cricket… that’s why we start playing this game. So, enjoyment factor is always in our forefront, but they have to do their role for the team,” he added.
Hathurusingha said that his knowledge about some of the Australian cricketers due to his association with New South Wales before joining the Bangladesh team won’t help and that the flow of the game will only depend on how players adapt on the go.
“12 months ago I was there (NSW) with them. I know a lot of the guys, they’re very good players and they’re very confident about their own game. We know a lot about their strengths and limitations, [but] that’s not going to help much but on the day the condition is the biggest factor in this game. So, our focus is how we use that conditioning to our advantage is the main thing we are talking about,” he added.
