Rakibul presses on fearless brand of cricket ahead of U-19 WC quarterfinal against India
India have been a familiar opponent for Bangladesh in the U-19 level. The Tigers beat India in the final of the previous edition of the World Cup. Recently, Bangladesh won a triangular series in India that involved two Indian teams. Bangladesh lost the semifinal of the recently concluded U-19 Asia Cup against India.
Defending champions Bangladesh will take on India in the fourth quarterfinal of the 2022 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in North Sound. India, the four-time champions, won all three matches in the group stage. On the other hand, Bangladesh won two out of three.
Ahead of the all-important match, Bangladesh U-19 skipper Rakibul Hasan stated that the team is confident after the two straight wins.
"Our quarterfinal match is tomorrow. Before this match, we had a gap of five-six days. We trained well during this time and according to what the match would be like. We're in a good space physically and mentally, especially after winning the last two games. There's a renewed belief within the team after the last two wins too," said Rakibul.
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"The batters and bowlers in the team have done well and we have confidence in our abilities to do well. We'll try to use those skills to the best of our abilities," he added.
India have been a familiar opponent for Bangladesh in the U-19 level. The Tigers beat India in the final of the previous edition of the World Cup. Recently, Bangladesh won a triangular series in India that involved two Indian teams. Bangladesh lost the semifinal of the recently concluded U-19 Asia Cup against India.
Rakibul said that they have a clear idea about the Indian team, having faced them several times. "We have to be fearless and positive to get a good result against them. We've played quite a few matches against India before. The Asia Cup semifinal and then the recent series we played against them in India. We have an idea about their strengths and weaknesses. We'll have a chance if we can keep the small errors to a minimum and execute our plans."
Rakibul urged the team to play a fearless brand of cricket in the quarterfinal against India. "The most important thing is, we're not worried about what the result will be, we want to focus on ourselves and play positive and fearless cricket," the U-19 skipper concluded.
