Ahead of the 28th match of the ODI World Cup 2023 against the Netherlands at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on October 28, 2023, the Bangladesh pacer Taskin Ahmed said that there is still a chance for his side to qualify for the knockout stage of the tournament. Speaking at the pre-match press conference, the Bangladeshi speedster said that they need to win the rest of the four games in the tournament to move to the next round of the ODI World Cup 2023.
Remarks of Taskin Ahmed
“It’s not finished yet. Still, four more games to go. If we can win those four, anything can happen because there are some run rate issues and also like a lot of teams like England and Afghanistan beat England they lost against Sri Lanka. So, if we can win four there will be a different story maybe but at the moment we are planning to go match by match. Yes, we did not play well enough as we expected from both units, batting, and bowling, but four games to go. So, we are looking forward to doing well as well,” Taskin said as quoted by ICC.
Scope for Improvement
When asked about Bangladesh’s weaker side on the field, Taskin said that they were good with the fielding but they have not done well with both bat and ball and they need more improvement.
“As I told before, as we expected, our fielding was pretty good so far in this tournament but batting and bowling I think as we expected we haven’t done enough well so there are a lot more improvements. But also, we know that we are better than that. And we are capable. But yeah, we have not done great. So, hoping to do well in the next four matches,” he added.
Face off with Netherlands
Talking about Eden Garden’s pitch, he said that most likely it is going to be a very good wicket and the outfield will be very fast.
“Tomorrow we are going to play the first match in the World Cup here. So, we have not seen any matches. Most likely it is going to be a very good wicket, sporting wicket. So normally when I played here before, what I have seen, is a very good batting track. The outfield is pretty fast. But there will be, I think, for both, the bowler, and batsman both going to get some help. So, it is going to be a very good sporting wicket in my thoughts. So, we will see when we are going to play tomorrow,” he added.
In their previous five games of the tournament, Bangladesh have won only one game in the ongoing ODI World Cup. They are coming into their upcoming match after losing against South Africa by 149 runs. Shakib Al Hasan’s side is standing in eight places in the ODI World Cup standings with just two points.
