'Now is the time'

It all ends today. All those talks regarding the importance of the practice matches and adjusting to the conditions down under; won't matter after today's game against the Irish at the Blacktown Olympic Park at Sydney.

Will Tamim Iqbal, who didn't field in the last game, be able to play a complete match? Will Soumya Sarkar be chosen over a specialist spinner? These and several other questions will need to be answered today; for from next week onwards, the real show begins for the Tigers.

As Nasir Hossain put it during yesterday's press conference in Sydney this will be the players' last opportunity to meet their respective training targets.

"The biggest thing is that there is no other practice match prior to the World Cup. This one is the most important. Whatever players want to take from this match… whether they want to score runs or take wickets… now is the time.

"If we can take something good, it will up our confidence levels," explained Nasir.

Bangladesh were one of the first teams to arrive in Australia. They reached Brisbane in the last week of January and spent two weeks acclimatising to the conditions there. They also played two unofficial practice matches in Brisbane, apart from the official ones scheduled against Pakistan and Ireland.

When asked if the players were comfortable with the conditions, Nasir said, "No matter how much we practise, we cannot understand the entire scenario within seven to 10 days. But I believe we have made the most of what we could here.

"We got most of the things that we wanted from practising here. We practised hard. Hope things will go well."

While Bangladesh have failed to win either of their three matches so far, they can take heart from the way they performed against Pakistan. Having posted 245, the bowlers stretched Pakistan's batsmen till the very end.

England posted a similar score during their warm-up against Pakistan yesterday at the Sydney Cricket Ground and lost in a similar way, an aspect that can perhaps encourage the Tigers.

If one were to judge today's match in a similar vein, then the Tigers would need more than just a win to satisfy their spectators, considering that Scotland thumped the Irish by more than 170-runs in their last encounter.

The kind of team that the Tigers fielded in the last three matches, there seems to be certain issues that they are yet to confirm. Spinners Arafat Sunny and Taijul Islam have not done well and the management, as a result, might just look forward to picking up Soumya in their place, which also gives the captain the choice of an additional pacer.

Then there's also the 'Nasir versus Sabbir Rahman' debate. Nasir was not given a chance in the game against Pakistan, and is likely to play today. With just one more match to go, all these questions should ideally be answered, ahead of their first clash against Afghanistan on February 18.