Mash wants to fight fire with fire

Tigers have an all-important date with Sri Lanka in the tri-nation series final on Saturday and skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza suggests that Tigers want Sri Lanka to play just as Strongly as they did yesterday so that they can reply strongly.

That is what any competition is about. The best performers want to thrive under pressure and pressure is what is all about when Bangladesh play the final against Sri Lanka tomorrow.

The skipper suggested that Tigers want to fight fire with fire and rise up to the challenge to reach a new level.

Skipper Mashrafe believed that it was an accident and suggested that the lesson will give them the impetus to come up with a strong reply. In short, he wants Sri Lanka's strong brand of aggressive cricket to ignite the Tigers in the final. Tigers will hope that his competetive spirit runs through the side when they play the final.

"An accident happened, which is good. It would give us the feel of what we can do during a bad time.

"We want to remain positive. What I want to say is that we did not come up with strong reply when Sri Lanka played aggressive cricket and how they bowled yesterday. For some reason we were lagging behind. If we could counter attack [yesterday] maybe we would have understood things better.

"We are hoping that tomorrow they come at us strongly, and what we also hope is that we can return the favour with a strong reply," the skipper said.

Bangladesh were on a roll, having won their first three matches in the tri-nation series by big margins. The effect of the morale boosting victories somewhat waned as a reinvigorated Sri Lanka beat them by 10 wickets in the final round robin fixture to set up a date with the Tigers in the final.

While the Lankans roared yesterday, Tigers were meek in submission and were bowled out for just 82 runs – their fourth shortest innings in ODIs.

Now that the challenge is truly upon the Tigers, either they face the music or rise to the occasion to fight fire with fire.