Bangladesh should win against South Africa and Sri Lanka: Mashrafe

Former Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza said that the Tigers should win in their Group D fixtures against South Africa and Sri Lanka in the forthcoming ICC T20 World Cup, expecting the team to win at least one of those two matches.

"We should win against South Africa and Sri Lanka," said Mashrafe after a press conference on the Bangabandhu Gold Cup International Kabaddi tournament at the Bangladesh Olympic Association auditorium today.

"We had won an away series against South Africa, even though that was an ODI series. I feel that they will at least win against either South Africa or Sri Lanka. Hopefully, Inshallah, they will do well," he added.

Other than Sri Lanka and South Africa, the Najmul Hossain Shanto-led side will also face Nepal and the Netherlands in the first round.

The former Bangladesh captain was confident that the Tigers will not slip up against the associate teams and wanted the team to aim for victory in all four of their first round matches.

"If you fear about losing against them [Nepal, Netherlands], that's not good. We must win against either South Africa or Sri Lanka and then beat both of them… Why not [win against] South Africa and Sri Lanka? We should aim to beat both teams."

Mashrafe also spoke about how the Olympics dwarfs the cricket World Cup in terms of global relevance and how he hopes to see athletes from Bangladesh win medals at the biggest sporting extravaganza in the world.

"The cricket World Cup is not the biggest tournament in the world. The Olympics is the biggest sporting competition and if someone from Bangladesh wins gold in the Olympics, it will be the biggest achievement for the country. I want Bangladesh to progress in all sports because we all play for the green and red flag," Mashrafe said.

Mashrafe attended the kabaddi press conference as special guest. Bangladesh Kabaddi Federation president and IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun briefed the media about 4th Bangabandhu Cup International Kabaddi tournament while BKF general secretary and DMP commissioner Habibur Rahman was present.

"I was also involved with kabaddi in the previous tournament and I feel proud to be associated with kabaddi, which is our national sport. I will also try to remain involved with kabaddi in future if I am given the opportunity."