Chandika Hathurusingha's presence in the Sri Lankan camp will not hurt Bangladesh's chances much, stressed Mashrafe Mortaza, the One-Day International captain, on Thursday (January 18). Hathurusingha coached Bangladesh but stepped down after the tour to South Africa and joined Sri Lanka as the head coach.
Bangladesh meet Sri Lanka in the third match of the tri-series, also involving Zimbabwe, at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on Friday. "To be honest it does not matter," Mortaza said.
"At the back of the mind, winning is all that remains. There is nothing else to think apart from winning the match. Ultimately if you think too much, pressure is bound to creep in. Everyone is thinking of playing against a team rather than thinking about an individual."
Sri Lanka lost their opening encounter of the tri-series to Zimbabwe by 12 runs. To make matters worse, Angelo Mathews, the captain, picked up a hamstring injury and is likely to miss Friday's clash. Sri Lanka need to win this fixture to stay on par with both teams as Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have four points on the board after a win.
Thilan Samaraweera, Sri Lanka's batting coach, too felt Hathurusingha's presence in their camp doesn't give his side any advantage. "I don't think there is any advantage because in world cricket I do not think there are any secrets now," he said.
"Players are playing franchise cricket and share dressing room. I do not think Bangladesh is playing against Hathurusingha, they are playing against Sri Lanka team. I do not think those things will really matter."
Mortaza also reckoned his side will have to take a leaf out of Zimbabwe's book while facing Sri Lanka, as they chased their second win of the tournament. He also called for retention of focus in a tournament where outcomes in just four fixtures will decide their fate.
"We have to play the Zimbabwean brand of cricket that they displayed yesterday. It is not like Zimbabwe won without playing good cricket. Sri Lanka can come up with similar brand of cricket so we must be ready to tackle that situation," he said.
"In a tri-nation series, keeping the tempo in four matches is difficult because you can go wayward in one or two matches and so we must remain focused," Mortaza said.
The skipper also had praise for the returning opener Anamul Haque, who made 19 off 13 balls in his first game back in almost three years. Anamul's approach during his brief stay was particularly appreciated and Mortaza reckoned that he would 'back him up'.
"The way Bijoy [Anamul] played cricket coming into the team after three and a half years is exactly what we want from him. There was a chance to make his innings bigger and there was no pressure on runs as well but still he tried to play positive brand of cricket," he said.
"We would certainly back him up because it shows he is lot more positive and his mind-set up is tuned with how we are playing as a team."
Besides Anamul's return, Mortaza also expects some of his lower-order players to make Shakib Al Hasan's initial batting position their own as the allrounder has now been moved up to bat at No.3.
"As far as Shakib is concerned, I am sure he will do well at three because he is well aware of his reputation and won't like it to go down. At the same time a space opened up at eight because we need someone who can play strokes like making 35 runs off 20 balls. I am not saying there is any concern about Nasir [Hossain] but at the same time others can come up and stake a claim and even turn out to be match winners," he added.
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