‘Champions Trophy will be a tough challenge’

According to Bangladesh ODI captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, the Champions Trophy will be a tough challenge for his team in England.

“The matches during the Champions Trophy will not be easy, especially if you consider our opponents, England, Australia and New Zealand,” Mashrafe said when he spoke to the media.

The squads chosen for the Champions Trophy and the Ireland tour will be travelling to Ireland to take part in the tri-nation series along with New Zealand. Afterwards, the Bangladeshi cricketers will be going to Sussex to take part in the conditioning camp for the Champions Trophy in England.

“We want to win the Ireland tri-nation series, and we are mentally prepared to put up a good show against the hosts and New Zealand,” Mashrafe replied when asked about the Ireland tour.

“Conditioning camps are helpful as they allow us to acclimatize to the foreign conditions, and make the necessary adjustments to do well. We had a conditioning camp before the World Cup in Sydney and we performed brilliantly. However, we also had such a camp prior to the New Zealand series but didn’t do that well.”

Bangladesh will return to the ICC Champions Trophy for the first time since 2006 after the eight sides were confirmed for the 2017 tournament, which will be hosted by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) from 1 to 18 June.

Bangladesh is placed in Group A with hosts England, Australia and New Zealand. Tigers’ first match will be against England on 1 June. On 5 June, Bangladesh will meet Australia and New Zealand on 9 June, 2017 at Cardiff.

Bangladesh’s last participation in the ICC Champions Trophy was in India, when it featured in the qualifying round. It lost to Sri Lanka (by 37 runs) and the West Indies (by 10 wickets). Its only victory was against Zimbabwe by 101 runs.