Bangladesh pacer Taskin Ahmed believes that they are ready to fight hard against Sri Lanka in their opening game of the 2024 T20 World Cup despite left-arm pacer Shoriful Islam being ruled out of the tie due to an injury to his bowling hand.
Shoriful, who had been one of Bangladesh鈥檚 key bowlers in the recent months, suffered the blow during their second World Cup warm-up match against India at the Nassau County Cricket Stadium in New York on June 1.
The pacer had to receive six stitches in the webbing of his hand after he was taken to the hospital, and was later ruled out of the Tigers鈥� tournament opener against Sri Lanka on June 8 in Dallas.
Taskin revealed that he will miss his bowling partner as he not only plays with Shoriful in the national team but they also donned the jersey of Dhaka Dominators in the 2024 Bangladesh Premier League.
鈥榊es [I will miss him]. In fact, Shoriful was really unfortunate as his bowling hand was injured when he had just one ball left in the match. It is difficult to remark about when he will start playing,鈥� Taskin said after their training session on Tuesday at the Mustang Cricket Academy in Dallas.
鈥業 hope he will recover his injury soon. However, it is really difficult to predict right now as he has received six stitches. I think the physician is the right person to talk about this.鈥�
Despite Taskin accepting that losing Shoriful was a big loss for their bowling unit, the Bangladesh vice-captain expressed faith in the rest of the bowling unit to bail them out against the Lankans.
鈥楬e is going to be a big loss for our team but the rest of our pacers are well prepared. In fact, our pacers are in a good rhythm. Therefore, I believe we shouldn鈥檛 be too worried,鈥� he said.
鈥業 hope that if we can give our best, it would be good enough for us to do well against Sri Lanka.鈥�
Like Shoriful, Taskin himself is also trying his best to be fit ahead of the encounter as he is still recovering from his rib injury, which he suffered during their home series against Zimbabwe last month.
A good sign for the Tigers was that the speedster started bowling on Monday, and according to the chief physician of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, he is all set to feature in the first game of the tournament.
His return to bowling, along with the preparations of the other bowlers, gave Taskin a firm belief of achieving something monumental in the global event.
鈥楲ook, we always play to win. Maybe we can鈥檛 do equally well in all three departments, but the expectation is always to win,鈥� he said.
