Bangladesh Test captain Mominul Haque said they are confident of winning the two-match series in Sri Lanka even without the service of Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman who are busy playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals respectively.
A 21-member preliminary Test squad of Bangladesh is all set to fly to Sri Lanka on Monday for a two-match Test series against the hosts. The series will begin on April 21 at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy. Both the matches will take place at the same venue.
Bangladesh’s last tour was to New Zealand where the Tigers failed to come victorious in any of six limited-over matches against the hosts. Now they are in dire need to bounce back.
Shakib and Mustafizur would have been Bangladesh’s biggest weapons in the Sri Lanka tour. But the Tigers are set to miss their service as both of them were allowed to skip this tour for IPL. Despite their absence, Mominul believes that Bangladesh has the ability to outplay Sri Lanka.
Also read: Bangladesh preliminary Test squad to fly for Sri Lanka Monday noon
“I don’t think we cannot win without Shakib and Mustafizur,” Mominul told the reporters on Sunday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium after a practice session. “We have more players in our team. They don’t have 10-12 hands (to play better than others). We also don’t have many hands. I don’t think their absence will make any impact. We couldn’t come up as a team in recent time and that’s why we have been failing to bring the result to tour favour. This is as simple as it.”
Mominul led the Tigers in six Tests so far, and the Tigers lost in all occasions except one against Zimbabwe. The other five matches were part of the World Test Championship. The forthcoming Sri Lanka series is also a part of the same event.