Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto is one confident leader. Despite his “we are coming for India” statement before the Test series boomeranging, the left-handed top-order batter did not shy away from saying something along similar lines ahead of the three-match T20I series that starts in Gwalior on Sunday.
Bangladesh came to India high on confidence stemming from a historic 2-0 Test series win in Pakistan. As big an achievement as it was, facing India in their backyard was always going to be a different ballgame altogether and Bangladesh, apart from the first two sessions of the series, did not seem up for it.
They were beaten by 280 runs in the first Test in Chennai. In the second Test in Kanpur, despite no play in more than two and half days, they lost with a session to spare on the final day.
But Shanto doesn’t want to harp too much about it. He has already set his eyes on a series win in the T20Is. It’s a different format and a different team, alright. Bangladesh even has a victory in this format in India, unlike red-ball cricket. And Shanto wants to play “aggressive cricket.”
“We are looking to win this series, to be very honest. We want to play aggressive cricket. If you look at our last World Cup, we had a very good opportunity to play in the semi-finals but we couldn’t do that. But, it’s a new team. So, I hope all the players will play some good cricket here,” Shanto told reporters.
The skipper said he won’t think about his team’s struggle in the Test series. “We all know we didn’t play our best cricket (in Tests). So, we are not thinking about what we have done before. Going forward, it’s a very important series for us and we all know in T20 it’s a totally different ball game. That particular day, those who are playing well, will win the match.”
New squads for India and Bangladesh
Both India and Bangladesh will have new-look teams taking the field with senior players making way for the youngsters.
India will have an entirely new squad, led by Suryakumar Yadav while Bangladesh will have only five players in their T20 squad who were also part of the Test squad.
Shanto said since the series-opener is at a new ground, the pitch behaviour would remain a guess work. “We know this is a very different ground, new ground and we don’t have much idea about the wickets. But, we had practice sessions last couple of days and we tried to find out how the wickets behave.”We don’t know how the surface will behave. But, as an international team, we need to adjust as early as possible.” Shanto was hopeful that his team will be able to turn it around in the T20 series due to the.”
“In T20Is, you never know. It’s important that on a that day, batting, bowling, fielding, those who are doing all the stuff well, that team will win. But, it’s not about big names or new players or old players. So, it’s important that particular day we need to play well.”
